Canadian Senior Cohousing

Canadian Senior Cohousing Society helped to bring a tried and true method of decision making from the past into the present in Sooke, BC, in the hope that this can change local “business as usual” for the better. Consensus-based decision making once prevailed in Europeans parliaments and remains the norm for cohousing communities in North America and Europe. It can take longer than majority rule to reach a decision by consensus, but the process is much more inclusive, and leads to decisions that are effective and quickly implemented. CSCS sponsored a consensus training workshop on May 19, 2012 at Sooke Harbour House, whose owners generously donated space for the workshop. The session was primarily for the West Coast Senior Cohousing group that is forming in Sooke. But members of the larger community also were invited, including Sooke Transition Town Society and a Non-violent Communication discussion group. In all, twenty people attended the day-long event in the Potlatch Room of Sooke Harbour House. Excellent facilitators were Sharon Haave from Creekside Commons Cohousing (Courtenay) and Kathy McGrenera from Quayside Village (North Vancouver). By the end of the day, participants had reached consensus on a “hot button” issue: pets. Our senior cohousing community will permit pets and the conditions will be determined in the future.

CSCS looks forward to sponsoring future sessions on facilitation training as well as more consensus training workshops for cohousers and the larger community. Let us know if you are interested!

Elderberry Commons will soon become “the new face of seniors living” in the Yarrow Ecovillage.

The Yarrow Ecovillage is a unique project that includes 20 acres of farmland, a multigenerational cohousing, and a commercial district.  The idea is to allow people to experience the richness of rural setting while still being able to walk to everything they need.  Elderberry Commons will be an amazing place to live, and we have room for more!

Number of Units expected: 17

Sizes of units: bachelor to 2 bedroom (but this depends on who comes to build it with us).

Expected first Design Workshop: End of summer.

If you are interested:

We invite you to join one of our 10 week Aging in Place Study Groups.  We have found the study groups are a wonderful way to see if cohousing might be right for you.  It allows you to get a taste of who your new neighbours might be without making a serious financial commitment.

For further information on the Study Group and Elderberry Commons, contact Ingrid at: seniorcohousing@yarrowecovillage.ca or 778-255-0604.

Check out http://www.yarrowecovillage.ca for Yarrowecovillage highlights

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Summary of proposed Development:

• The BV Senior Cohousing Working Group is a grassroots team of like-minded people under the aegis of the Driftwood Foundation which seeks to build a seniors’ cohousing complex in the Bulkley Valley. The complex will have a low impact on the environment, showcase eco-sensitive design, be affordable, maximize opportunities for social interaction among its residents and make a positive contribution to our surrounding community.
• Our present vision is to build sixteen -1 and 2-bedroom dwelling units, surrounding a 3,000 sq. ft. common house with shared facilities. Four of the units will be rental units in order to make the project more inclusive. As presently envisaged, houses will be privately owned with common facilities held in Strata Title.
• This initiative is a response to the reality of an aging demographic and the critical shortage of affordable seniors’ housing in the local area. It also responds to the need for new homes to be more environmentally sustainable as we face climate change and energy scarcities, and to build a beautiful, safe place where people come first and have a direct power over their immediate community.
• We aim to work closely with government and other partners to help meet strategic aims and core ambitions relative to new provincial and local sustainability goals such as Smithers’ Community and Corporate Sustainability Plan and Telkwa’s Integrated Community Sustainability Plan.
• We have established a demand for this project by circulating a background paper (Ageing in Community) with an attached questionnaire. We also participated in Telkwa’s Roundtable discussion on affordable housing as part of their Official Community Plan process.
• Proposed Common House features are: lobby entrance, office, sitting room, dining room, commercial style kitchen with preparation island and pantry, laundry, washrooms, well lit art and craft studio with north facing window, and Janitor room. The second floor would include a gym and 2 self-contained guest rooms with the stair designed to accept a stair lift. It is also our intention that these common facilities and activity areas may serve the wider community as a meeting space, mentoring and education.
• We intend our project to showcase the best in environmentally sensitive design by incorporating such things as passive solar heating, stack venting, increased insulation, triple glazing on north facing windows, solar water pre-heating, low toxicity, low embodied energy and locally sourced materials, including bug-killed pine provided by our local Wetzin’Kwa Community Forest Corporation as part of their community outreach program.
• Our Age-in-place design features will include all 19 measurable SAFERhome criteria, with a view to becoming SAFERhome certified.
• Our ambition is that this project can act as a catalyst and example for similar projects in other parts of BC and Canada.
• Current Status:
• We are pursuing the development of this project through a tried and proven 5-step process called Nielson’s method. This is a process developed in Denmark where cohousing began and where they now have over 200 cohousing projects in a country of 5 million.
• Through grants generously provided by our local BV Credit Union and Wetzin’Kwa Community Forest Corporation, we have completed the first step, the Feasibility Study, which views the project favourably and as likely to succeed.
• Our group also recently received a $14,000 Agefriendly BC grant from the Union of B C Municipalities (UBCM) through the auspices of the Town of Smithers. This was used to fund the second step in the process, the Public Engagement phase, where Charles Durrett made a presentation on Senior Cohousing in Smithers to an audience of roughly 200 people. The Agefriendly BC grant also covers the third stage – Study Group 1. Study Group 1 is a period of self-discovery where, in a series of 10 facilitated group discussions, participants explore issues relating to what it means to age successfully, including the realities of ageing such as health issues, physical diminution and death. It also covers the pros and cons of various housing alternatives, the economics of getting older, team building, the group process, consensus decision making and working together. Philosophical views relating to mortality are also discussed, and examples of successful senior cohousing community design are explored.
• If a sufficient number people emerge from Study Group 1 wishing to pursue the vision of creating a senior cohousing complex in the Bulkley Valley (say 10+) the project will be a “Go”.
• The next steps will be forming a Non-profit Housing Society, purchasing a site and beginning the design process.
• The final design of the project will be a joint effort of the residents signing up for the project after Study Group 1 in accordance with one of the founding principles of senior cohousing – Participatory Design. This means that the final group will work together with an architect to design the project from the ground up, including the site plan, common house design and individual unit designs. This will be undertaken during Study Group 2.
• We hope to fund the design process through programs offered by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). They offer $10,000 in “seed” funding and up to $100,000 in project development funding (PDF). The seed funding is a straight grant and the Project Development Funding is also forgivable if the project results in an increase in affordable housing in the area, which ours will.
• For the construction phase, if the project goes that far, BC Housing has offered to provide 100% of the construction loan at zero interest rate and to secure the best possible mortgage rates for those buying into the project at the end, as well as for the proposed rental units.

Contact person: Mel Coulson melandevi@bulkley.net

At a lunch potluck meeting at Sooke Ocean Resort on March 11th, the 26 people in attendance reflected on the Getting it Built Workshop (held Feb 24-26) and considered plans for moving forward with a West Coast Senior Cohousing project. Eight hardy souls and one senior dog whetted their appetites with a pre-lunch walk on Whiffen Spit.

While the exact amount required for membership will be clarified — is it to be $100 per person or $200 per household? — other requirements are:

1. Members must have taken or commit to take a study group on Active Aging in Community. (Weekend courses may be an option.)

2. Members must pay $100 to receive the extensive report Ronaye Matthew prepared for the Getting it Built workshop and attend an information session to get up to speed. Anyone who was not already signed up to do this, please email Margaret <seniorcohousing@gmail.com> and plan to attend March 20, 2012, from 6:30-9:30 at the Reading Room Cafe (6660 Sooke Rd in Evergreen Mall next to Western Foods).

Twenty participants enjoyed a tremendous ‘Getting it Built’ weekend workshop with Ronaye Matthew and two members of her team which ran from Friday evening until Sunday late afternoon, Feb 24-26, 2012 at Sooke Ocean Resort. For lot of photos, click here

The information Ronaye presented about what it takes legally, financially, and socially to get a seniors’ cohousing project such as ours accomplished from start to finish was intensely focused, extremely practical and entirely relevant. Her team’s depth of knowledge and experience was evident through every aspect of the presentation and kept all of us fully engaged.

The weather cooperated for our visit to five potential sites on Sunday morning. The workshop concluded with plans to explore a couple of these sites in more depth, and to expand our site search.

We finished the Getting it Built Workshop by deciding what the next steps for the group should be.

1. We need to define who our members are. Who wants to move forward with the next stage of this process of developing Seniors Co housing?

a)If you would like to be a member, it is important that you are familiar with all the information about the Seniors Cohousing process which has been covered so far, so at least one person in each member household should have taken the Active Aging in Community study group or be prepared to take it next time it’s offered.

b)It is also important that everyone understands the material covered in the Getting it Built workshop we took last weekend, so if you weren’t able to attend you should purchase a copy of the workshop materials and be prepared to come to a meeting where you can discuss it and ask any questions. This will cost $100 per household. (those who attended the workshop paid $230 per person)

2. All members should pay a $200 per household membership fee to support the ongoing costs of the group

This will put everyone at the same starting point as we prepare to enter the next phase of our adventure.

So- if you would like to move forward with this project you are invited to meet on Sunday March 11th at the Sooke Ocean Resort, 6669 Horne Rd Sooke for a potluck lunch. Anyone who would like a walk before lunch will meet at Whiffen Spit parking lot at 11 am, lunch and meeting will start at 12 noon

Membership fees will be collected at the March 11 meeting. If you can’t be there but want to be a member, please email Gail Abernethy gabernethy@shaw.ca. If you do not want to be a member but want to be informed of our progress, you can be a “Friend of Senior Cohousing” at no charge by emailing Gail.

We look forward to seeing you!

On January 26, 2012, journalist Star Weiss featured our senior cohousing project in the western communities outside Victoria in her CBC radio column Not-Young-Not-Old. Here is a link to her blog. Through it you can link to the streaming radio clip.

http://starweiss.blogspot.com/2012/01/ive-recently-been-talking-to-people.html

Boomers have high standards, meaning institutional dotage is out

by Rosa Harris-Adler senior cohousing t-C

This column appeared in the Victoria Times Colonist, 23 Sept, 2011

An elder is a person who is still growing, still a learner, still with potential, and whose life continues to have within it promise for and connection to the future. An elder is still in pursuit of happiness, joy and pleasure, and her or his birthright to these remains intact.

Moreover, an elder is a person who deserves respect and honor and whose work is to synthesize wisdom from long life experience and formulate this into a legacy for future generations.

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, From Age-ing to Sage-ing.