So what is cohousing, anyway?
Cohousing is a style of housing that developed in Denmark in the late 1960s and was brought to the United States by Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant. The concept of cohousing was born out of frustration with the housing available at the time. While everyone needs a certain amount of privacy, most people crave a certain amount of community as well. Yet most housing developments emphasize privacy and isolation. Cohousing respects individual privacy by engaging each household in planning the design of its own home, but it encourages community by involving residents in the planning of shared spaces.
A typical cohousing development includes homes that face each other, with pedestrian paths between. The cars are in a parking lot on the perimeter. A common house is at the center of the community and often features group meals with a large eating and gathering area, a kids’ room, a guest room, perhaps a workshop or exercise room, a laundry room, and sometimes other facilities.
There are endless benefits in this type of living. Cohousing is virtually crime-free living, since strangers are spotted immediately. Yet residents are not shut up behind vaults. Shared spaces offer opportunities for social interaction without sacrificing privacy, opportunities to share skills and talents with others, and a safe and supportive environment to raise children. Shared resources preserve natural features, lower living costs, and weaken the cycle of consumption. Many proponents of cohousing suggest that it increases free time, diversity, and empowerment through participation.
As of 1997, there were 52 cohousing communities in 18 states. Most of the time, cohousing implies a suburban or rural setting with plush surroundings, maybe a pond or stream, and abundant wildlife. However, some creative groups of people have brought it to cities. In urban settings, cohousing brings the possibility of home ownership to low income families, especially in areas that are being re-gentrified. Here in Chicago, three diverse groups represent the heart of the cohousing movement.
Building a Place for Artists
Wicker Park has long been an oasis, a haven for Chicago’s arts community. Offbeat restaurants, bars, and nightclubs abound amongst the multitude of art galleries. For decades, the neighborhood eluded the trendiness of Lincoln Park and Lakeview; the cost of living remained low to accommodate struggling artists and musicians who were the heart of the neighborhood.
As the area gained in popularity, however, it was discovered by real estate developers. Within the past ten years, numerous new condominiums and townhomes have popped up, and older buildings have been renovated and converted to condominiums. Development may have improved the facade of the neighborhood, but it also increased property values, and thus, taxes. Over the years, building owners have increased the rent for residential as well as business leases, and many people have had to leave Wicker Park, including artists and many unique establishments like Urbus Orbis Café. So the effect of the improving neighborhood has been to drive out the very components that made it appealing in the first place. One group of artists decided to combat this issue by purchasing a building to call their own.
The Acme Artists Co-op, founded by the Near Northwest Arts Council (NNWAC), is a group of artists who have come together to form a new arts community in the shadow of the old. They have purchased an unused warehouse just beyond the boundary of Wicker Park and have plans to renovate it into 21 residential units and four commercial spaces. In contrast to the gated communities being touted by real estate developers as luxury townhomes, the artists have embraced the ideology of cohousing.
"Cohousing described a situation of shared resources that made sense to us," Laura Weathered of NNWAC explains. When NNWAC was founded in 1986, it quickly became evident that zoning and inflation were preventing artists from owning their own spaces. Ownership was the one thing that would keep them from being displaced in the ensuing regentrification of the neighborhood. NNWAC worked actively with the City Council researching housing possibilities, and ownership options and cohousing came out of that research. Weathered adds, "We were all working harder, being displaced, having a difficult time paying the rent, so this was an attempt to make a decent life for ourselves with combined resources." The goal was to create something that was affordable to everyone involved and that could address each person’s needs.
Before they began looking for a space, the group needed to make decisions regarding the space. They enlisted the advice of an architect and a financial planner as they looked at various buildings. While their current space was not their first choice, it carries certain appealing advantages such as being large enough to have an inner courtyard and having two adjacent lots that can be used for parking. Since it is open to so much sunlight, it will have a rooftop garden.
Each family designed their own space with square footage ranging from 800 square feet to 2,200 square feet. Weathered describes it as "more intentional than just buying a house and then getting to know your neighbors. We were very deliberate in making sure everyone didn’t look like each other. Cohousing is a cooperative effort in which everyone has a voice." So far, their plans are poised to be a success; though residence is limited to artists and cultural activists, all the units have been sold and there is currently a waiting list.
Building Diversity
Looking out her window, Pat Wilcoxen sees the brand-new construction of $250,000 townhomes in a gated community where each little patch of grass is surrounded by iron bars. It gives the feeling of a war zone; the message, clearly, is "Keep Out." But this is Hyde Park, hardly an area of dangerous instability. Wilcoxen knows that pretty soon, she may not be able to live here anymore. The latest wave of gentrification is beginning to affect longtime residents. So she and several others have gone west, to Woodlawn, where they are trying to forestall the tide of real estate development that is quickly moving that way.
Pat is one of the owners of a 21 unit leasing co-op established in 1979. It is an interracial, intergenerational, and interclass community by design, which was unheard of at the time. She is also one of the founders of Woodlawn Development Associates (WDA), a nonprofit development company that was formed in 1994 in response to what was happening in the neighborhood. "Having been part of the community for 20 years, we shared the concerns about the new construction that was going on. People who had lived here for many years didn’t feel a part of the growth and were afraid that it was becoming so gentrified that they wouldn’t be able to afford to live here anymore," she said.
The WDA wrote a proposal for a feasibility study of cohousing in Chicago and received a federal grant. After their first choice for a site fell through, they went to another block where a board member already owned two buildings. Across the alley from these buildings was a six-flat (which a slumlord had converted into 24 units). It had been boarded up for ten years and was in demolition court.
In order for the WDA to seize the building from demolition, they had to show what they planned to do with it. Surprisingly, they encountered much opposition from one neighbor in particular, who was hoping to see the building torn down and expensive townhomes go up. WDA succeeded in obtaining the building, but only because they compromised on their intention to make that building integrated. They had planned to have 20 percent of their cohousing units be low-income and have them dispersed throughout the cohousing community, which would include new construction on the adjacent vacant lots. Instead, the low-income units will be concentrated in the six-flat, which will be rehabilitated into a ten unit building with a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units. They hope that once the new construction is built, the low-income housing can be dispersed as was previously planned.
"One of the values in the mission statement of WDA is to build community with the resources within the community, building it from the inside out," says Wilcoxen. Passion shines in her face. She goes on to add that "we are dedicated to building environmentally and economically sound buildings so they remain affordable for people in the long term." WDA wants to create a cohousing community that is racially, generationally, and economically mixed. "We know it can be done," Wilcoxen asserts. "Many people say,‘Ugh!’ because they believe the American way is homogeneous. Developers build homes next to each other that are all of the same economic class because they assume that no one wants to live next to someone of a lower class. We want to work with the community to create diversity, a mixture, that allows everyone who wants to be a part of it to stay."
To create this type of community, or any cohousing community, takes a great deal of time and planning that is not readily accommodated by the city. For example, part of the land planned for new construction is not yet owned by WDA. The city won’t sell it to them until they have a detailed development plan from them and a signed statement from the contractor that it can be built for that amount. That means members have to hire professionals and plan the site before they even own the land. The system is set up for developers, not community groups, sighs Wilcoxen.
"A developer can talk with the city in an afternoon; with us, it takes months and months because you have to get the people together and ask them what they want. We are so trained to buy off the shelf that most people can’t even dream of planning their own housing. [Cohousing] is quite different than anything you’ve seen around. You see gated communities with all the same style housing; cohousing has clustered housing with pedestrian paths and the cars on the perimeter," Wilcoxen explains. Among the new units WDA is building, two larger units are planned for‘congregate’ living, whereby unrelated adults, such as seniors and students, can live together.
WDA’s core group, which is made up of those who design, recruit, and commit to the cohousing community, is currently made up of eight households. The number of families in the core group fluctuates a bit because of the time it takes to plan. However, this time is valuable as it creates community before the shovel hits the dirt. The friendships that develop bind them together as respected citizens, communicative partners, in the quest for belonging in a society of alienation.
The Woodlawn cohousing project is currently looking for more households to join them. You must subscribe to their principles of diversity to be part of the group.
Brought Together by Faith
For Craig Nash, this is the way things are supposed to be. After eight years of planning, waiting, sweating, and hoping, he is standing in the doorway of the house that he and his neighbors have built together. As he looks out, he can see the other rooftops, doorways, windows, and siding that he helped his neighbors erect. There is a feeling of comraderie here as neighbors whiz in and out of each other’s homes and children are never alone.
This is Ujima Place, a cohousing development on Chicago’s west side, where eight households have built a community based on the principle of ujima, which, in the Kwanzaa tradition translates as "coming together." Members of this development came together through the Lawndale Christian Church, although few knew each other before coming to the group. While many shared a common faith in coming to the group, it is their faith in each other, an admirable trust, that makes Ujima Place a real community. "Cohousing is not something that happens overnight. You never really know someone until you live with them. We took classes to learn about our personality styles and how we would work together," Nash explains.
Perry Bigelow, the developer of Bigelow Homes, brought his vision of cohousing to the Lawndale area and was the driving force behind it. Craig was invited by a friend to come to the church to find out about this new "housing thing." Many people were interested, but few were willing to do the work necessary to build cohousing, so the core group dwindled to eight households.
The core group started looking for a site and after they had selected one, the deal fell through. They stopped meeting for awhile, but picked themselves back up again and found a new site. All of the lots they acquired were owned by the city, which wanted detailed plans before selling. The group teamed up with an architect who helped them design their housing plan. The city allowed the purchase, and construction began.
At first, it was slow going. Everyone was busy learning various components of housing construction because, while much of the supplies were donated or supplied at a cut rate, all of the labor was being done by the future residents of Ujima Place.
About a year into the construction process, however, the development took a giant leap forward when the Chicago Builders Association "adopted" Ujima Place as its project. They donated their labor and expertise. Volunteers from other churches came to help. Nash recalled, "This is the way things used to be. On your block or in your building, wherever it was, you not only had an extended family but you also had neighbors who would help you out and be there to celebrate in the good times and who you could lean on in the bad times."
At first, the neighbors were suspicious of Ujima Place. They worried that construction would be poor; that it might resemble scattered site housing and lower the value of their own homes. Instead, they have seen the value of their homes increase: cohousing has been good for the neighborhood. It’s been good for the members, too. There is virtually no crime in Ujima Place. All the homes face each other, which makes it easier for neighbors to watch each other’s houses when they are away.
Yet cohousing is not for everyone. Nash warns that there must be common ground. "If people cannot come together because of common worship, common work, or a common vision for their children, that’s when there’s struggle. You either need to start with common ground or you need to develop it."
Ujima Place is full, but Perry Bigelow is building a housing development in the far west suburbs, part of which he would like to develop into a cohousing community for a core group interested in living there.
Get Ready for Community
The imposing gates of newly constructed townhomes and condominiums need not be a barrier to building community within your neighborhood. You may not live in cohousing, but you can adopt some of its principles. Know your neighbors, participate in or plan block parties or potluck dinners, and facilitate other ways for people to come together to share their knowledge and resources. All these things can create community where you live. Make the commitment to support your neighbors and share what you have, because only by coming together can we enact change.
Resources
The Chicago Cohousing Network is an umbrella organization formed in 1990 to spread the word about cohousing in the Chicago area. To receive a monthly newsletter, send $10 to Hal Mead, Secretary and Newsletter Editor, at 2205 Maple C-1, Evanston, IL 60201.
To find out more information about the Acme Artists Community or to put your name on the waiting list, contact Laura Weathered at the Near Northwest Arts Council, 773-278-7677.
If you are interested in attending one of the core group meetings for the Woodlawn Cohousing Community or would like more information, contact Juanita Burris at the Woodlawn Development Associates, 773-667-8456.
To find out more information about the cohousing possibilities with Bigelow Homes in the far west suburb of Aurora, please contact Jamie Bigelow at 630-851-8040.
Ecovillage Chicago, a group of people interested in creating and living in an ecologically sustainable community that would also incorporate cohousing, is currently looking for a building to purchase on the north side of Chicago. For more information, please contact Marty Becklenberg at 773-764-5065.
Others are hoping to form an intentional community that will support children and be ethnically diverse. They are seeking a site on the north side of Chicago. If you are interested, please contact Lisa or Don at 773- 955-1325.
To learn more about cohousing in general, read Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett. This book is available through the Chicago public library system.