THE OWCH (OLDER WOMEN’S COHOUSING COMPANY) LTD. LONDON   ANNUAL REPORT 2008/9

DIRECTORS’ REPORT

 The OWCH (Older Women’s Cohousing) Company Ltd was incorporated as a company in January 2002. The directors in 2008/9, who represent the membership of the Older Women’s Cohousing project, are as follows:

Barbara Ashton

Nicolette Bolgar

Diana Deeks-Plummer

Jayne Nelson

Sheila Nicholson

Shirley Meredeen

Marion Virgo

Maria Brenton, who serves the OWCH group as a consultant, is Company Secretary.

introduction

The OWCH Memorandum and Articles state that the Company is established ‘to promote cohousing as a specifically beneficial form of residential community development in the area of London, designed and operated to enable the community’s residents to live within a self-contained setting which combines private accommodation with other communally run buildings or services, thereby maximising opportunity for community members to support and interact with one another on a regular basis as the community may decide’.

In other words, OWCH is about self-dependence, shared activity and mutual support among older women who live as a group for this purpose.

OWCH activities from 2008 to 2009 have been directed at promoting this key aim. The project involves a membership of around two dozen women aged 50 to 80 years and upwards, most of whom currently live alone in the London area and who are planning ahead for a time when they may be in need of a more communal and supportive environment. Their view of a desirable future is one where they stay active and happy through the stimulus of social activity and the security of friendly neighbours. They want to stay in charge of their own lives and to have their own personal space but also to function within a group around shared values. This way of setting up and managing your own housing is based on the cohousing community model developed by older people in The Netherlands and Denmark. It will set a precedent for older people in the U.K.

How the OWCH group began

In 1998, older women from various networks around London came to a seminar on collaborative ways of living among older women. Some of them became the nucleus of OWCH, but the name was only adopted later. They recruited other women and met regularly to discuss their ideas for the future. As their numbers grew, they began to meet in a sheltered housing complex in Belsize Park. This is where the OWCH group still meets regularly. They have a business meeting in the morning, bring food to share for lunch and usually run a workshop in the afternoon.

Milestones along the way

The group made a conscious decision to be a women’s self-helping group. Older women are a vulnerable group who find themselves alone in old age in much greater numbers than older men (60% of women aged over 70 live alone). Members of OWCH have always seen themselves as pioneering a demonstration model for older people generally and they and their website are a source of information and guidance which older people frequently seek out.

Early members were already a mix of owners and renters and to sustain this mix and remain inclusive is seen as an important goal by the group. Because the group needed a housing grant to develop part of the cohousing scheme for women who require affordable rents, the Housing Corporation, as it then was, encouraged the group to set up a formal partnership with a housing association (RSL). This was Housing for Women who have been enthusiastic supporters of the project from the beginning. Housing for Women is a charity and its constitution limits it to serving women only. The OWCH Memorandum and Articles similarly confine membership to women.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded a consultant (Maria Brenton) from 1999 to 2004 to work with the OWCH group. She has continued working for the group and has been active on the political and policy fronts to encourage official recognition of the value to older people of this way of independent living. There are very few cohousing schemes in existence in Britain and these are mostly family-based developments. Due in some part to OWCH’s own efforts, the concept is beginning to gain wider public recognition in the UK, although not in any sense to the extent that it has been enthusiastically promoted in Denmark, The Netherlands and the USA. In the UK the small UK Cohousing Network has formed as a company and exists to encourage the development of cohousing – often linked to eco-initiatives. There is official interest in the OWCH group from such bodies as the Homes and Communities Agency and the Department for Communities and Local Government and both bodies have cited the OWCH project in their policy documents as a positive example for local authorities and housing associations to take up and encourage. The Tudor Trust, a philanthropic charity in West London, is interested in aiding the OWCH group to establish a scheme and has supported its activities in recent years.

HISTORY OF OWCH QUEST FOR SITES

Housing for Women has worked tirelessly for the group and has consistently sought the involvement of a larger RSL which would be able to purchase and develop a site for OWCH and act as a vehicle for a Social Housing Grant. Over the years, a number of sites have been explored by the group. Some of these were rejected for reasons of size, lack of amenities, lack of transport routes, etc. Many other desirable sites have not materialised because of factors beyond the group’s control – adverse planning decisions in a number of recent cases (see below) but also lack of sustained support and follow-through by numerous of the housing associations with whom OWCH has formed hopeful partnerships over the years. Housing associations, it must be acknowledged, are generally unfamiliar with the culture of small, self-determining groups.

In 2001, the London region of the then Housing Corporation made a Social Housing Grant available for the group on a pan-London basis - contingent on a number of conditions, which the group has fulfilled. Now the Homes and Communities Agency, its National Affordable Housing Programme 2008-11 Prospectus invites local authorities to assist the development of cohousing communities. The HCA has also said that it wants to find new ways of engaging older people in housing management, design and planning

In 2004, a potential site was identified in Wembley and a partnership was established with a major housing association. Sadly, planning officers refused planning permission in 2007 on the proposed configuration of the site, the existing plans became unaffordable and new plans were negotiated which excluded the OWCH project. This was a major disappointment to OWCH members after nearly three years detailed work and involvement.

The group had a similar experience in relation to another site in North London, an intended addition to a Housing Association PFI project. In 2009, after some two years of members participating in meetings with architects, planning restrictions resulted in reshaping of the intended scheme and exclusion of the OWCH project. A further site in the area then became a possibility for a few months. This too fell victim to planning and design complexities.

As this report goes to print, a possible site in London is under consideration in partnership with Hanover Housing, a large, UK-wide body specialising in older people’s housing. A Hanover Board level decision in 2009 that cohousing meets its policy aims of extending choice for older people in housing was welcomed enthusiastically by OWCH members. Meanwhile, OWCH’s discussions with other housing associations re further cohousing groups continue.

When a scheme is finally realised, OWCH members with homes to sell will buy in to it on a shared ownership basis. (A mix of part buy/ part rent – in varying proportions). Social housing rental tenancies will also be available. Housing for Women will be landlord for the rental elements of the scheme. The residents of the scheme will control entry, but eligibility criteria for the affordable accommodation will need to conform to the borough’s requirements wherever the final scheme is located. A minimum period of membership of the OWCH group and subscription to its shared aims is the key criterion for OWCH. Individual membership will be underpinned legally by leasehold and tenancy agreements. Energy efficiency, recycling and some pooling of resources are of great interest to the group, as is the prospect of the group itself acting as a resource for its local community.

Once a site is confirmed beyond doubt, OWCH will launch a major marketing and recruitment drive targeted at local older women in the relevant local authority and surrounding areas, a drive that will aim to consolidate the diverse composition of the group.

THE OWCH GROUP IN 2008/9

As this Annual Report illustrates, much of the energy of OWCH members has been dedicated to the task of building a sense of community among themselves around a common purpose and agreed goals – which is the foundation of a successful cohousing community and the basis of the enterprise’s attraction to the members it recruits.

Meeting each month and spending the occasional weekend away together has been a means to strengthen ties. A mutually supportive network has been built in the OWCH group and some members meet socially between meetings. Members make special efforts to make newcomers feel at home in their meetings and encourage them to join in work-group activities when they feel ready. There is generally a winter party in January to which associate members and others are invited.

The success of the project depends on recruitment of a sufficient mass of members. The essential principle of cohousing is that fellow-residents know each other and subscribe to a shared purpose in order to build a successful sense of community. The acceptance of complete strangers into the residential group would run counter to this.

For a cohousing community to work well, there is a need to maintain a pool of prospective members who are already familiar with the group and its aims and who can become resident when a dwelling is vacated. Similarly, when a group first moves into a building, it is important that any sudden crisis, such as someone becoming ill and not being able to move in as planned, can be compensated for immediately by allocating her accommodation to another member who is known to the group. This is particularly important for a group of older people for whom a sense of shared security and mutual support is an especially compelling motive for getting together.

STRUCTURE OF the group

OWCH policies and products

OWCH members have developed a number of policies and procedures in anticipation of finally moving into a building. These have been based on group workshops and some have been the product of formal training courses – such as in ‘Managing Diversity’ or ‘Conflict Resolution’ - for which OWCH has raised funding over the years. The group has policies for membership, equal opportunities, mutual support, pets, noise and smoking, decision-making and conflict resolution. Additional workshops have been undertaken on disability awareness, managing conflict in a group and first aid.

An OWCH Newsletter is published every quarter and circulated to associate members and supporters. The OWCH video ‘A different way of living’ is based on an exploratory trip made by some of the group to cohousing communities of older people in The Netherlands and this is used for promotion and recruitment. The www.owch.org website is a first port of call for many.

THE ENGINE ROOM TASK GROUP

This co-ordinating group with a membership of three to five women meets each month. It oversees the activities of the various task-groups, agrees the agenda for each monthly meeting of the whole membership, plans the OWCH workshop programme and chases progress.

THE MEMBERSHIP TASK GROUP

The membership task group monitors fee schedules and membership categories and organizes procedures both for new women to join and for existing members to renew their membership. An important feature of admission to membership of OWCH is an opportunity for the applicant, having attended at least three group meetings and expressed a desire to join, to meet informally with two existing members to discuss what membership entails and to understand and subscribe to the group’s stated values. A similar process is entered into in November each year by existing members who divide into threes to assist in self-appraisal and confirm continued adherence to the values of OWCH and the cohousing project.

Where possible, the membership group monitors and records key characteristics - such as the ethnic identity or disability status of enquirers - so that the OWCH group can track its own efforts towards maintaining inclusive recruitment and a diverse membership.

THE COMMUNICATIONS AND RECRUITMENT TASK GROUP

The OWCH group views as an important activity the recruitment of new members and dissemination to older people generally of information about the benefits of the cohousing model. This is the job of this task group.

Members of the group organised OWCH’s participation in the Brent Respect festival in summer 2009, taking leaflets and wearing their ‘Older Women’s Cohousing’ pink T-shirts. An OWCH representative attended the ‘Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A National Housing Strategy for an Ageing Population’ Conference in October 2009. The task group oversees the OWCH website which has become a valuable resource for members and a point of contact and information for enquirers. The OWCH e-mail box is monitored and enquiries responded to. General requests such as those for ‘a group somewhere near me’ are dealt with by reference to the national cohousing network website (www.cohousing.org.uk). The task group also produces the OWCH quarterly newsletter.

OWCH is in touch with various intending cohousing developments around the country, exchanging information and resources with them at intervals. Maria Brenton continues to lobby on behalf of the group and the UK Network.

THE FINANCE TASK GROUP

OWCH finances, though modest, are sufficiently complicated to need a small group to keep an eye on them and to assist the OWCH treasurer. The annual accounts prepared by this group for submission to Companies House are to be found at the end of this Report. The communications needs of the group, with expenditure on photocopying and postage generated by each meeting and also the cost of hiring the meeting room, are the group’s major expense. As a non-profit-making voluntary group, OWCH relies on its members’ subscriptions mainly for its running costs. In a decision at the October 2009 meeting, these were raised for the following year; £48 per annum (Friends £48, Associates £24, Visitors £5). A grant from the Tudor Trust enables the group to recruit and train members and build capacity as well as meet additional expenses.

The site planning group

Three OWCH members, with Maria Brenton, represent the whole membership in liaising with housing associations, inspecting sites and participating in project management meetings and design meetings with architects. They report back regularly and all members are encouraged to scrutinise and comment on possible sites and to contribute to the design process.

The site planning group aims to act as a timely, helpful and efficient conduit between the whole OWCH group and the developer, transmitting the group’s views and preferences as accurately as it can, while responding to the demands of the development process. Interpreting the needs and timeframes of one group to the other – which is the foundation of a shared understanding between two very different cultures – is a real challenge.

OWCH’S long-term aims

The Tudor Trust is interested in fostering a self-managing older person’s community and considers that the model offered by the OWCH group is one that it would like to encourage.

The OWCH group will eventually need to reconfigure in order to separate the interests of a group of residents from those of OWCH Ltd which will continue to operate as an umbrella body promoting and developing cohousing schemes among older people. There is no reason that, once the cohousing model is successfully demonstrated to local authorities and housing associations, several more cohousing schemes should not be developed in London and elsewhere in the country. It will also provide a template – hopefully – for fresh approaches to the development of new or refurbished sheltered housing and extra-care schemes, encouraging their developers to involve prospective residents, help them build their capacity to function as a group, establish ownership and enjoy a sense of community and shared purpose.

WHAT IS COHOUSING?

• A way of living as a group. Each household has an individual flat and shares communal facilities
• A ‘living group’ where health and wellbeing are enhanced through co-operation, companionship and mutual support
• An environment where diversity is welcomed and everyone is valued equally regardless of class, ethnicity, belief, disability and sexuality
• A community, in which members’ skills and talents are valued, shared and developed
• A community which is managed by its residents

WHO IS IT FOR?

• Any woman over 50 from any background or culture
• Women who want to live in London
• Women who want to rent, part buy or buy
• Women who enjoy both privacy and the company of like-minded women
• Women who are prepared to commit themselves to the group’s values
• Women who are prepared to be active participants
• Women who are capable of independent living
• Women who satisfy the eligibility criteria

WHAT ARE OUR VALUES?

• Acceptance and respect for diversity
• Care and support for each other
• Providing a balance between privacy and community
• Countering ageist stereotypes
• Co-operating and sharing responsibility
• Maintaining a structure without hierarchy
• Caring for the environment
• Being part of the wider community