Page 25 - C.A.L.L. #33 - Winter 2010/2011

Save the Planet, Share a Roof
By Chris Cannon, 28 April 2010, TheTyee.ca

Tucked away in the residential Dunbar neighborhood of Vancouver, Canada - just

steps from a busy Kitsilano thoroughfare - the Mackenzie Heights Collective has been
functioning since 1970 as an "intentional
community," the popular term for a collection of
residents that prefer to live in a group house for
economic, environmental, and social reasons. Dozens
of residents have called the Collective home over
the years, evidenced by a bulletin board of dated
photos and a downstairs full of inherited furniture
and board games.

Currently housing five adults (ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-40s) and a toddler,
the Collective is a model of shared-resources commitment. "We've got 2,700 square
feet in the house that none of us could afford individually," says Colin Van Uchelen,
who has lived in the house since 1993.

"One family would have filled this whole house rather than five adults. We don't need
more than one lawnmower, one drill, one shovel, one BBQ. We each contribute 29
dollars a month in a shared fund, and that fund is used
to buy things of benefit to us all, things that contribute
to all our well-being and our communal property."

"It enlarges me psychologically in the same way it
enlarges me practically," says the Mackenzie
Collective's Colin, whose PhD work, coincidentally,

focused on empowerment in collectivistic systems.
"What I have access to is so much bigger than what I'd
have on my own in a little apartment. It equals your
access to resources, both physical space and social
space."

The cornerstone of a shared living model is rooted in the intertwined benefits of
practical savings and social enrichment. The garden at the Mackenzie house --
featuring salad greens, peas, beans, squash, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries,
leeks, and herbs -- doesn't just allow grocery savings, but provides an opportunity for
group effort that benefits the collective. The rest of the groceries are purchased
from local, organic sources using a common food fund. Each resident takes a turn
cooking dinner once a week, and then everyone cleans the kitchen together
afterwards.

For some, though, the opportunity to connect with others may be reason enough. As
Colin admits, "I just like having people to say hi to when I come home."

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