Page 11 - C.A.L.L. #45 - Summer 2019

Four reasons to consider co-housing and

housing cooperatives for alternative living

By Kirsten Stevens-Wood
theconversation.com

Intentional communities come in many different shapes and sizes. They are,
simply put, groups of people who choose to share their lives and live communally

with others. This is more than just, say, people who share a block of flats, but
on the other hand they have moved on from being stereotypical hippy communes.
Intentional communities can be as broad as a group of people squatting
together as a protest community, or a group coming together to self-build. They
are places where people “live together or share common facilities and …
regularly associate with each other on the basis of explicit common values”.

There are countless benefits to living in an intentional community – here are
just four more reasons why it may be for you:

1. Collective ownership can give you more

Living in a grand house with its own boating lake is out of reach for many – but
not for members of the Dol-Llys community, who live near Lllanidloes in mid-
Wales. Dol-Llys was originally a regency house owned by the county council, but
was bought by six families in 1992. The families all share the 14 acres of land
which includes a man-made boating lake.

Thundercliffe Grange just outside Rotherham, meanwhile, boasts its own
woodland, a walled garden and a stable block.

The collective nature of intentional communities often means that when a group

pools its resources, the members can significantly increase their buying power.
The community of Cannon Frome share a Georgian manor in Herefordshire with
its own banqueting hall, while those at Laurieston Hall, in Scotland, reside in an
impressive Victorian mansion with 135 acres of woods, pastures and marshland.

Although not all intentional communities are this grand, collective ownership
enables groups to share other resources, too, such as meeting spaces, and
communal tool sheds.

2. It can be good for the environment

Many housing cooperatives and co-housing projects share not just space, but

also resources. In fact, researchers have found that communal cooking and
eating saves on both energy use and food waste. In addition, intentional
communities are more likely to participate in pro-environmental activities such