Table Of ContentSPRINGER BRIEFS IN AGING
Sherry Cummings
Nancy P. Kropf
Senior Cohousing
A New Way
Forward for Active
Older Adults
123
SpringerBriefs in Aging
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/10048
Sherry Cummings Nancy P. Kropf
(cid:129)
Senior Cohousing
A New Way Forward for Active Older Adults
123
SherryCummings Nancy P.Kropf
Collegeof Social Work Schoolof Social Work, Perimeter College
University of Tennessee Georgia State University
Knoxville, TN,USA Atlanta, GA,USA
ISSN 2211-3231 ISSN 2211-324X (electronic)
SpringerBriefs inAging
ISBN978-3-030-25361-5 ISBN978-3-030-25362-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25362-2
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Duringourtravelstotwelveseniorcohousing
communities, the two authors spoke with 76
of residents. These women and men opened
their homes, shared their experiences, and
made this project informative …… and fun!
We dedicate this book to those individuals as
a small way to thank them for their kindness,
and generosity of spirit.
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Senior Cohousing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 The Purpose of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 Senior Cohousing—History and Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.1 History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Cohousing in the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3.1 Cosmic Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.2 Self Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3.3 Social/Personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Communities Visited—Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 Cohousing Communities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Alcequia Jardin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.3 Elderberry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.4 Elder Family Fellowship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.5 Elderspirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.6 Glacier Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.7 Mountain View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.8 Phoenix Commons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.9 Sand River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.10 Sarah’s Circle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.11 Silver Sage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.12 Walnut Commons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.13 Wolf Creek Lodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.14 Governance and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.15 Decision-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
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3.16 Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.17 Member Recruitment and Vetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 Why Senior Cohousing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.1 Pushes: The Desire to Leave a Current Residence . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.2 Pulls: The Move to a SCC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.3 Why Senior Cohousing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
5 Staying Active and Engaged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.1 Activity Within Senior Cohousing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2 Engagement Outside the Senior Cohousing Community . . . . . . . 40
5.3 Public-Private Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
6 Benefits and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.1 Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
6.2 Social . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
6.3 Practical. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
6.4 Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.5 Interpersonal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
6.6 Amount of Time Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
6.7 Self-governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
7 Looking to the Future—Aging in Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.1 Hopes for Aging Within Senior Cohousing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
7.2 Support in Senior Cohousing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.3 Limits of Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.4 Envisioning the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
8 Advice from Senior Cohousers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.1 Adequate Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
8.2 Self-reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
8.3 Be Courageous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
9 Living and Learning—The Senior Cohousing Experience . . . . . . . . 71
9.1 The Desire for Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
9.2 Growth and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9.3 Thoughts for the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
9.4 Concluding Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Appendix A: Questions for Members of Senior Cohousing
Communities... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 81
Abbreviations
EFF Elder Family Fellowship
NOBO North Boulder
SCCs Senior cohousing communities
ix
Chapter 1
Introduction
….we’reontheleadingedgeofthebabyboomerssowedon’tdoanythinglikeanybody
haseverdonebeforeandthatincludesaging.Youknow,we’veseenourparentsinnursing
homesandthat’snotwherewewanttogo….(Tammy)
Our society is currently experiencing demographic shifts due to the aging of the
babyboomgeneration,andTammy(above)captureswellthemagnitudeofchange
brought about by the baby boomers. This cohort, born after World War II during
theyearsof1946–64, hastransformedsocialinstitutionsandtrendsateverypoint
in the life course. As members of this cohort ourselves, both of the authors have
facedthechangesfirsthand—andmanyofyouwhoarereadingthisbookhavegone
through these experiences as well. We overflowed school classrooms as our sheer
numberwentbeyondthecapacityofspaceandresources.Weembracednewtrends
andmodifiedsocialvaluesandnormsinmanyareasincludingchoices,customs,and
socialroles.Nowaswegrowolder,wearetransformingoptionsforlaterlifebyour
preferencesanddecisions.
Weseethesetrendsinmanywayswhichcreatenewandemergingjourneysinto
laterlife.Oneisthewaythatwecareforourselves.Forexample,greaterattention
isbeingpaidtostayinghealthyandfitintolaterlifesuchasdescribedinthebook
Fitness After Fifty: Eat Well, Move Well, Be Well (Rosenbloom & Murray, 2018).
Taketheexperienceofrunningamarathon,forexample.Previously,thiseventwas
dominatedbyyoungerrunnerswhowereviewedashavingtheendurancetocomplete
the26.2miles.However,therehasbeenashiftinrunners’profilesasgreaternumbers
ofmasterrunnerscompeteinthissport.Infact,nowover50%ofmenand40%of
womenareovertheageof40,andoftenrunnersarecompetingintotheir60sor70s
withsubstantialbenefitstophysicalhealth(McMahan,2015).
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S.CummingsandN.P.Kropf,SeniorCohousing,SpringerBriefsinAging,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25362-2_1
