Thank you so much for your interest!
Living in a cohousing community has its rewards and its challenges. It’s not for everyone. Is it right for you?
If you want a lot of close involvement and to share everything, then perhaps an intentional community – e.g. a Diggers and Dreamers or a Radical Routes style co-op – might be more to your taste.
On the other hand, if you don’t want to have much to do with your neighbours, and don’t want to use shared facilities, then maybe Housing Association accommodation might be more your style (though many housing associations do offer some opportunities for sharing).
If you want to share a significant portion of your life with your neighbours, and to use some shared resources, but you also want some of your own space and time, then cohousing might be for you.
You don’t need to be a saint, but you do need to be realistic about the effort and compromises it takes to live with other people. You need to be empathetic, honest and diplomatic – or be willing to develop those skills. You need to be willing to take part in the consensus decision-making processes, to say your piece honestly, and to really hear other people’s points of view. You need to accept that sometimes you might only get 90% of what you want.
We’re planning on offering accommodation to people who are acquiring equity in the community as a whole (MHOS), and also to people who are / will be social renting. Both groups will equally be members. People on the MHOS side will need to be able to put down a deposit on our affordable homes. People who are social renting won’t.
There’s a lot of work to be done, thinking about where and how we want to live, about the buildings, and about the project. There’s a central committee, who are resposible for the overall project, and there are also sub-committees taking on individual tasks. We need people who can put in maybe eight hours a month helping out. Something like “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.” We believe that everyone has abilities, whether they are people abilities or technical abilities. (Make sure you don’t sell yourself short!)
If this sounds like it could be something for you, then we’d love you to Get involved
Cohousing West Midlands 