Author Archives: CoHoWM

Hi folks, another quiet month (at least on the cohousing front!). We had a catchup with one of our West Midlands Urban Community Homes (wMUCH) mentors. wMUCH folks helped both the Birmingham Community Cohousing, and the old Cohousing West Midlands group, who have joined forces to create the new improved Cohousing West Midlands group. WeContinue reading “April 2022”

March was very quiet. Not much happening externally. Some work going on under the covers to amalgamate the groups’ finances and files. A couple of Zoom meetings.

We fielded a couple of queries from folks who are distant, but thinking of moving to the area – a couple from Kent, and someone from Oz! One of us attended a Zoom coffee evening put on by the UK Cohousing Network (UKCN). Representatives from Bridport Cohousing were talking about their experience with Sociocracy, whichContinue reading “February 2022”

Birmingham Community Cohousing (BCC) and the old Cohousing West Midlands (CoHoWM) groups agreed a framework for merging the two groups. We’ll keep the CoHoWM name (rather than BCC or a possible third option), and we’ll keep the CoHoWM registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), since CoHoWM is already registered as an MHOS. It’s agreedContinue reading “January 2022”

December was a quiet month – at least on the Cohousing front. CoHoWM had a Zoom meeting, and Birmingham Community Cohousing had a meeting with one CoHoWMer attending live and another by Zoom. We look forward to restarting our activities in the new year.

This month we attended the regular UK Cohousing Network coffee evening. We heard from the director of a Housing Association which is prototyping a Cohousing-style approach to some of its housing for seniors in the Midlands. We also heard from Portaferry Cohousing, Northern Ireland’s first Cohousing community. One of us had a chat with aContinue reading “November 2021”

We attended various events this month: Cohousing cafe, featuring some researchers talking about the relationship between cohousing groups and immigrants / refugees in the UK. (Mostly, cohousing groups seem willing, but uptake from immigrants / refugees is still low.) Two webinars on finances for co-operatives, put on by Co-operatives West Midlands. A useful overview ofContinue reading “October 2021”

Well, September was a busy month. Let’s see… The Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH) set up a meeting with the Regulator of Social Housing, for him to hear our views on the government’s review of how well the social housing sector is meeting the needs of their customers. One of us attended this. The UKContinue reading “September 2021”

Lots of progress this month with the documents we will present to people outside the group. We followed our consultant’s guidance, but one of us had some further great insights which we need to work in to our Partnership Pitch documents. We had a summation meeting with our consultant to reflect on the work we’veContinue reading “August 2021”

Had meetings with Sam, our West Midlands Urban Community Housing (wMUCH) consultant about our Site Finding Brief and our Outline Business Plan. Further refinements were recommended, and pursued. One of our colleagues also had some excellent ideas, from their experience working with a charity, about improvements to our Partnership Pitch. Work on incorporating these improvementsContinue reading “July 2021”