The single family-housing unit has always struck me as strange.
The housing infrastructure in the United States is based off the idea of “self-containment”. We have kitchens, bedrooms, bathrooms, entertainment rooms, storage rooms, laundry rooms, etc. All our houses are self-contained so outside of getting food, you basically never have to leave.
And consequently that’s what a lot of people do.
But is that really healthy? Would it be better if sometime everyday we were required to leave our comfort zone?
That’s why the idea of co-housing is really appealing to me.
Think of a small community with a bunch of tiny houses which you can sleep in and go to when you want privacy. Each house would have it’s own bathroom and shower. But there are shared areas for cooking, eating, entertainment, laundry, etc.
At the core the idea is to build community over things that are burdensome in the single-family unit model.
Cooking could be shared and meals eaten together as a community. Having a garden which different people help tend to. The children can play together so childcare is free. The elderly folks keep the young folks wise, the young folks keep the elderly folks young. The community takes care of the elderly so they don’t have to go to old folks homes.
Sure there might be some bickering and people not getting along. But I really believe that general happiness among our population would rise if we had a better sense of community.
Yeah but do you have a wild armchair anthropologist theory to back this up?
Ah! I’m happy you asked, this is the internet, where anyone can say anything. So yes, yes I do:
To make the ever popular comparison to how humans evolved, we came from tribes, not every family was out there fending for themselves. We shared more burdens and probably have some biological propensity to feel connected to a tribe.
There! Are you happy? Probably not because…
We live in the United States, we have a reputation for being rich and miserable. I think part of that is because we try to do everything by ourselves. We’re a country of rugged individualism but part of us cries out for community.
There are plenty of obstacles which would make this co-housing project challenging, like zoning laws and the fact the people in my generation move around so frequently (I’ve lived in three cities in the last three years).
But I still feel deeply called to keep exploring this idea. And strangely enough, almost all the people I’ve talked to are onboard with it as well.
Maybe one day we’ll get the tribe back together 😀