Cohousing

Cohousing is a cluster of houses or flats arranged in such a way that neighbours see and meet each other easily from day to day and avoid the anonymity that characterises our modern neighbourhoods. Self-contained, private accommodation is combined with a shared common house or a meeting room and other facilities where people can get together for coffee, share a meal occasionally, have a party or hold events.

Its design is not the only special feature of cohousing. What makes it stand out as different from other forms of housing, is that it starts with the actual people who are going to live there. From the beginning, a group of people get together to work out how they want to live and then look for a site, a developer and architects to deliver it. They run the project. By move-in day, most people will already know each other fairly well, and to help that along, they will have had all kinds of social events and activities as part of building a group of friendly neighbours. Everyone has a say and shares responsibility for managing the entire site once they have moved in. Further along the line, newcomers joining them will have got to know the group and be known by them through coming to social events and meetings. They take their part too in helping to manage the enterprise. A cohousing community can be family-based and inter-generational or it can cater for a specific age-group. It ís a matter of choice.

This way of promoting and sustaining neighbourly relations is ideal for older people who aren't that keen on the options otherwise available to them. They may want to downsize to somewhere more convenient. Or they want to have a bit of company when they feel like it or enjoy the security of knowing that friendly assistance is available for lifeís ups and downs. This is what cohousing is all about.

The OWCH group is a limited company with a constitution and policies that they have developed on the basis of the training workshops they hold from time to time. They have a website and a quarterly newsletter and a promotional video.

The OWCH group

OWCH is a group of women aged from 50 to 80+ who have got together to plan the first cohousing community of older people in the UK. Their decision to be for women only is based on the fact that it tends to be women who live alone most in old age - but they have always seen themselves as pioneering a model for all older people. They are keen to help other older groups learn from them and develop their own schemes and they often have visitors with this in mind at the monthly all-day meetings. OWCH members come from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, most are retired but some are still working. They want to live close to each other - with their own front doors - and offer each other mutual support as they get older. The group also wants to live in energy efficient ways and to be a resource for its local community. Most of all, members want to have all the benefits of a lively, friendly, group of neighbours keen to share interests and activities.
OWCH's partners
Hanover Housing Group is OWCH's developer and has purchased a site for the group in High Barnet ideally placed near local shops, amenities and transport routes. A building of 26 two and one-bedroom flats with common space and a garden has been designed by the architects Pollard, Thomas, Edwards, with input from OWCH members. The aim is for a well-designed, low-energy building suitable for growing old in and fitting in sympathetically with the local conservation area. Just over half the flats will be for sale. Landlord for the rental units will be Housing for Women, a small housing association, who have worked in partnership with OWCH on this pioneering development.
The way forward
An outline design has been agreed by the group and planning permission is being sought.
Meanwhile, OWCH members are active in the borough, seeking to interest local women in the project and inviting them to come and find out more about it. Meetings at the HoneyBee café have been suspended for now, however.