Retirement Stats, Studies, and Stuff
By Mariella Vigneux, MBA, ACC
Certified Professional Coach
Four 50+ friends are developing a cooperative home in downtown Toronto that will allow them to live together and support each other as they age, thereby avoiding what they refer to as those unappealing retirement and last-resort nursing homes. Their cooperative will be home with six units housing a total of 8 to 12 people, each a co-owner, each with their own private living area. The purpose of the cooperative home is to remain independent by becoming interdependent.
Project drivers
The main driver fuelling their project is a desire for community. We live longer and healthier if we remain connected with others. With the dissolution of extended families living together, many seniors become isolated. According to this group’s blog article, in Britain and the U.S., about a third of people over 65 live alone, increasing the risk of social isolation. So why not band together?
A secondary driver for these people is a desire to decrease their carbon footprint. By having one building with communal spaces – like the kitchen, media room, guest suite, and wine cellar – less greenhouse gases will be produced.
Finally, the co-housing arrangement should lower their living expenses.
It takes time to form community
What’s particularly interesting about their model is that they “…expect to form the community well in advance of any assisted living supports being required.” Why do this when still relatively young, while still in their 50s and 60s? “Simply put, it takes time to grow old together; it takes time to form community.”
One thing these friends all agree on – they will have a porch where they will sit drinking wine together.
To find out more…
- Globe and Mail’s October 4, 2016 Facts & Arguments article: As my friends and I grow older, we’re setting our sights on communal living
- Facebook: Cohousing for Creative Aging
- Website: Wine on the Porch
There’s a future industry here. I can imagine lots of readers of the Globe article asking, How can I find these people? May I join?
I’m sure a lot of people have asked those questions, Helen. (The links in my article lead to the answers, for those interested.)
This sounds like a marvelous idea, especially for singles. And for couples too. Because, for the most part, we all become single at some point. I wish your friends luck!
Yes, marvelous. What these people are doing right is getting started in cooperative living well before it becomes necessary… setting it up the way they want it and with people they feel good about living with. (Amy, they aren’t people I know; they are friends of each other. I read about them in the Globe and Mail.)