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October 17, 2013
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Online Community News for Lumby, Cherryville, Rural Coldstream and Highway 6
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Returning to Basics:
About Elder Cohousing
Charles Durrett is a major proponent of senior cohousing, also known as elder cohousing, which are residential communities specifically designed for seniors. There are at least three senior cohousing communities in the U.S., one each in California, Colorado, and Virginia with more being planned and constructed. According to an American Association of Retired Persons representative, senior cohousing is "very interesting niche housing" that is needed as an option.
Durrett is author of The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living (2009, 2nd edition), and with Kathryn McCamant, is co-author of Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves (1988). In a blog posting Durrett muses about establishing a healthy sustainable lifestyle for an ageing generation.
Last year Americans drove 5 billion miles caring for seniors in their homes (Meals on Wheels, Whistle Stop Nurses, and so on). In our small, semi-rural county in the Sierra foothills, Telecare made 60,000 trips in massive, lumbering, polluting vans-buses – usually carrying only one senior at a time – schlepping a couple thousand seniors total over hill and dale to doctor’s appointments, to pick up medicine, or to see friends. In our cohousing community of 21 seniors, I have never seen a single Telecare bus in the driveway. In cohousing it happens organically by caring neighbors: “Can I catch a ride with you?”; “Are you headed to the drug store?”, etc. And this alternative is much more fun and inexpensive for all involved, and much less damaging to the environment.
Wolf Creek Lodge, a new senior cohousing community about to start construction, has 30 units to be built on 1 acre within walking distance of downtown Grass Valley, population 12,000. Top of mind, one future household will be moving from a 20 acre lot, 9 miles from town, another from 15 acres, also 9 miles out of town, and another from 13 acres, 7 miles from town. These are young seniors planning not only to live more sustainably, but more fulfilling as well.
Bill Thomas, M.D. and prominent author on issues affecting seniors, describes our currently predominant scenario of caring for seniors as the “$3 trillion dollar dilemma.” The cost of care for the 78 million new senior/baby boomers “coming of age” in the next 20 years will be $3 trillion dollars more per year than it is now (and that is in a nation with a $13 trillion dollar GDP — to put it into perspective). It goes without saying, that the current pattern is not sustainable from an environmental, cultural or financial point of view.
President Obama has announced that for us to arrest global warming, we will have to reduce carbon emissions by 2% per year until 2050. It seems doable, but last year, carbon emissions increased by 1.4% — we are headed in the wrong direction. Given this situation, we’ve got to do something. We need to think collectively about how to set seniors up for success and to help them achieve their full potential into their last 20-30 years and how to set the environment up for success at the same time. Cohousing is for seniors who want to be a part of the solution.
We can help seniors fulfill their desires for a more rewarding living arrangement that better supports their well being, physically, socially and emotionally. And the good news is that I haven’t witnessed anyone having more fun since the college dorms, than seniors living in cohousing — and I’ve never seen anyone live more sustainably (for example, my electric bill last year was minus $83.84). Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living, second edition published by New Society Publishers (http://www.newsociety.com) — and the type of communities it describes and helps to create — allows seniors to live lightly on the planet and to enhance their quality of life at the same time.
Returning to Basics
Ecovillage & Cohousing
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Returning to Basics:
Oakcreek Cohousing
Community Breaks Ground
Pictured Left - October 7, 2011
Stillwater's newest neighborhood for active adults is really happening! Members of Oakcreek Community celebrated their official groundbreaking with friends, neighbors, professional team members, city and state dignitaries, and interested citizens on Thursday, October 6. Pat Darlington, member of Oakcreek, welcomed the crowd and reminded all that, "This small group of 'regular and yet extraordinary' folks have shown us that 1 person can be 2 people and then three and then 8 then 14...and on and on... and with spirit and grace, passion and hard work, and more than their fair share of miracles, can change the way 'we've always done things' for senior living." Cory Williams, Oklahoma State Representative, District 34, recognized the Oakcreek Community members for their dedication to a vision and for their contribution to the quality of life in Stillwater as well as the impact of the first and only cohousing community in the state of Oklahoma. He predicted that the innovation represented in Oakcreek would serve as a model for other cohousing communities in the state and region.
As part of the groundbreaking ceremony, members of Oakcreek brought soil from their current homes and poured it together to represent the contribution that each of the present 11 members have made toward the development of this community. The traditional "turning the dirt with shovels" ritual followed. Actual construction is scheduled to begin on October 17 with completion and move-in scheduled for fall 2012.
Oakcreek Community members have created the design of their new neighborhood and homes with the professional assistance of architect Charles Durrett of McCamant & Durrett Architects, Nevada City, CA and Development Consultant, Kathryn McCamant, Cohousing Partners, LLC, Nevada City, CA. Local professionals who are making this project a reality are Jana Phillips, Project Manager, Brown Engineering; Kelly Harris, civil engineer, Keystone Engineering; and General Contractor, Scott Campbell, Campbell Construction. The finished project will be a vibrant neighborhood of 24 privately-owned one- and two-bedroom homes shared open spaces, and a 3500 sq. ft. Common House for community gatherings, cooperative activities, and guest accommodations, all nestled on their 7.5 wooded acres along Boomer Creek in the heart of Stillwater.
At present, eleven households are vested members of Oakcreek Community and have reserved 11 of the 24 homes. Members range in age from 58-years to 85-years young and include singles and couples, working and retired, business owners, faculty members, health care professionals; all of whom embrace an active, welcoming, mindful lifestyle in the second half of their lives.
