Page 9 - C.A.L.L. #35 - Fall 2012

A majority of cohousing communities share meals in the common dining hall two to
five nights per week. How does that work?

It’s voluntary. People rotate the job - you’re on a cook
team and in exchange for preparing so many meals you
get to eat so many meals without making anything.
Some communities do it every night. I think there’s no
better way to get to know your neighbors than to sit

down and break bread together. The more people talk
to each other, the easier it is to resolve an issue.

How are conflicts in the community resolved?

Some groups have a mediation team; some groups call
in outside mediation; some groups ignore the conflict.
You cannot legislate behavior. Suppose you have a Ann Zabaldo
policy of no dogs off the leash. How are you going to
enforce it? Kick them out? Call the animal patrol and have them pick up the dog? No -

this is my neighbor! In ten years at Takoma Village, we’ve had very few meetings in
which we’ve heard people raise their voice. Even when people are passionate about
stuff, we don’t scream at each other.

What kinds of people gravitate towards
cohousing?

People come to cohousing because they want
connectedness. They want to come into the
community and have somebody know what

their name is. I don’t want to be a stranger in
the place that I live.

The communities themselves seek diversity -

racial, sexual, and religious diversity; a lot of
Takoma Village Cohousing them put it right in their mission statement. A
few communities, including Takoma Village, are
highly racially integrated. Single women make up the majority here - 58 percent - and
we’ve got a lot of single-parent households and adoptions. Blueberry Hill, in Virginia, is
overwhelmingly families. Each community is different.

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