On Monday I was interviewed by Emily Jackson and today photographed by Jennifer Gauthier for a feature on Vancouver Cohousing in the Vancouver Metro newspaper. Here’s the excellent story. There’s also one just published in the Vancouver Courier.
I can see the Vancouver Cohousing website will get a lot of hits from these stories and it still has us under construction; so, I’ll work on updating it before calling it a night.
‘It feels like family’: Residents move into Vancouver’s first cohousing development
Cohousing – private units arranged around common areas – has officially come to Vancouver. Metro checks in with residents of the city’s first cohousing community.
By: Emily Jackson Metro Published on Thu Mar 10 2016
Neighbours say they’re starting to feel like family just two weeks after moving into Vancouver’s first cohousing community – a type of housing where people own private units and share large common areas such as a community kitchen and playroom.
Residents officially moved into the 31-unit cohousing development on East 33 Avenue between Victoria and Knight at the end of February, nearly three years after the city approved the housing complex as an innovative way to make housing more affordable amidst the city’s real estate madness.
But the housing concept, which originated in Denmark and operates as close as Burnaby and North Vancouver, is about much more than affordability, according to residents who spoke to Metro about how the 48 adults and 18 children are adapting to their hyper-sharing lifestyle.
JENNIFER GAUTHIER/METRO
Lorne Mallin is a resident of Vancouver’s first cohousing project at 1733 East 33 Ave.
“It feels like friends. At times it feels like family.”
Cohousing attracts likeminded people willing to share considerable resources, prepare group meals five times a week and make all their decisions by consensus, Mallin explained.
These neighbours already share vacuums, borrow cutlery and drive each other’s children to school, Mallin said. They’ve even managed to make all their decisions together by 100% consensus “without going crazy or meeting endlessly,” he added.
The residents own their own strata units with fully equipped kitchens (they can sell anytime, and there’s a waitlist to buy).
They see themselves as groundbreakers for the housing type and hope they inspire other cohousing communities. (Two more are underway: Little Mountain Cohousing and Our Urban Village Cohousing.) Mallin recommends they hire local architects who know how to wade through the city’s planning department.
JENNIFER GAUTHIER/METRO
Lorne Mallin chats with neighbour Barb Angel, as Stacey Hagerty watches Jude Le Good scooter past. The four are all residents of a cohousing project at 1733 East 33rd Ave., in East Vancouver.
And so far, residents report no neighbourly annoyances, merely the feeling of excitement that they actually pulled the project off despite numerous hurdles.
Next-door neighbours were concerned about the size of the complex shadowing the neighbourhood, the urban design panel rejected their design twice and it was challenging to get the money together to build, said resident Darcy Riddell.
Clearing these challenges, not to mention moving into a brand-new building with solar panels and electric car charging, created strong social connections, said Riddell, who lives with her husband and two children.
“There’s a trust and a resilience to the relationship already, even though we haven’t lived face to face,” she said, as children played in the courtyard Thursday evening. “It just feels like this community is coming together.”
People are already swapping garlic for rosemary and sharing childcare, she said, so it definitely feels like a family. (It doesn’t hurt that eight units were purchased by people who are actually related to at least one other owner, Riddell said with a laugh.)
sounds great – good luck to you