Intro to Coho Presentation

Gilo delivered a comprehensive preso on co-housing and it's variants, using plenty of examples from all over the world and Australia.

Many thanks to all the people who joined us for the presentation

Next Presentation some time in the next few week will be in Sydney, details soon.

image curtsey of Jed Walker Transition Blue Mountains

Creating a Sustainable Neighbourhood Presentation

The E-Co-Neighbourhood Blue Mountains Initiative
would like to invite you to our  
Creating a Sustainable Neighbourhood Presentation
 
Gilo will introduce the Cohousing Model concept and the E-Co-Neighbourhood Blue Mountains group intent and progress.

Slow Neighbourhood : the Cohousing Model

Posted by Gilo on abitslow.com  website on Friday, October 14, 2011

Modern cities are facing increasing challenges around social isolation, population growth, housing shortages and resource distribution impacted by climate change. Managing growth, reducing traffic, creating sustainable development, sharing resources and amenities are all challenges we face today.

Within these challenges, the importance of an individual to make a change comes from one‘s need to gain back the control over their way of living. Where we live and what we eat are influenced by what we can afford and by what is sold to us and these choices  are usually being dictated to us by big Corporations (70% of the work force work) .
About 2,400 years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato described an ideal community where everything was organised collectively. In 1506, the Englishman Thomas More published the book “Utopia, which gave a name to such visions. In Mores‘ideal community, people were to live in neighbourhood groups with common dining rooms and various shared leisure facilities.

Slow neighbourhood draws its inspiration from the notion of the old neighbourhoods, where neighbours knew and supported each other, and such utopian ideas of collaborative living and sharing , while preserving our contemporary way of living which values the private as well .

Cohousing communities are neighbourhoods which feature common facilities, sustainable living practices and good connections with neighbourresidents, with residents actively participating in the design, planning and operation of their own neighbourhoods. That is, cohousing is a form of intentional community.

 

Cascade Cohousing, Hobart Au

The cohousing model involves participation by residents within a non-hierarchical management structure, fostering shared decision-making, creating and maintaining a caring community, fostering the development of meaningful relationships between neighbours, and ensuring that residents feel a sense of belonging. As a result, cohousing communities tend to encourage a sense of physical safety. The physical layouts of the neighbourhood buildings encourage this: the design is pedestrian-oriented, aiming to encourage opportunities for casual meetings between neighbours; there are large common houses/facilities which provide space for both planned and spontaneous get-together such as celebrations, hobby clubs, movie-watching and shared meals.

In terms of scale, cohousing neighbourhoods are typically designed for 12 to 35 owner occupied or rental residential units, with units often being smaller in size and clustered together to allow for more shared open space. The self-managed nature of cohousing communities provides residents with opportunities to develop new life skills
While many people are now searching for new ways to take back control over their lives, Cohousing (and ‘Pocket Neighbourhood ‘concept that I will write about in another post) provides innovative solutions to many of today’s environmental and social challenges.

Cheers
Gilo

Sociocracy Weekend with Gina Price

on behalf of the Blue Mountains cohousing group I would like to thank all the people who joined us to this very insightful Sociocracy workshop. Thanks to Jasmine for organising this and to Gina for sharing her knowledge with us.

we had a great weekend where we learnt and practice how to run meetings in an efficient way. Gina was wonderful and very helpful in getting us through this.

the advantages of this governance tool over other existing tools which aimed at achieving consensus, lies in its efficiency , its measured hierarchy which from my point of view empowers the participants to be part of decisions making and take responsibility for her actions.

if your group struggle at times to reach consensus try Sociocracy ...

Sociocracy Workshop Coming Up

Dear Friends - you might like to attend this! please forward if you think appropriate.  We feel that this has great potential for community and non profit organisations.

Sociocracy workshop: 
Friday 28th October 7-9pm (intro) and
Saturday 29th October 9am to 5pm
Sociocracy is a decision-making and governance method, based on recent discoveries in systems theory, that allows an organisation to manage itself efficiently, while incorporating the wisdom of every member.
This enables groups to be dynamic, rejuvenating, and foster egalitarian relationships. It is of benefit to businesses, educational bodies, community groups and non-profit organisations. Sociocracy invites participation, inspires leadership and allows
an organisation to flourish in a changing environment. Ultimately it can throw light on today’s big issues, whether it be climate change, water management or the energy crisis.
Trainer:  Gina Price is a certified trainer in Sociocracy.  www.ginaprice.com.au
Gina is based in Western Australia and we are fortunate to have the opportunity (at lower than usual costs) on the dates below.   Places are limited and bookings are essential!

Location:  Mid Mountains Community Centre, New Street, Lawson. Lawson is 90km from Sydney, with accommodation is available at “The Blue Mountains Hotel”. Venue has wheelchair access and car parking, and is a 5-minute walk from Lawson railway station.

Childcare:  Mobile Minders childcare is available on-site – bookings essential by Tuesday 25 October.

Cost:

• Friday 28 October:  Evening Workshop and BBQ   6pm start   $25/head   Please advise if you are vegetarian.
• Saturday 29 October:  All-day workshop   9am-5pm   $80-$120/head
• Friday 28 October +   Combined booking  $90-$130/head
• Saturday 29 October:  Book    for    both    workshops    and    save!
•   Sliding scale dependent upon income –    discuss with organiser below if you wish to volunteer in return for lower fee

For bookings and additional information, contact Jasmine Payget: Mobile:  0406 045 044   Email:  jasmine.marcia@gmail.com

Hosted by Blue Mountains Cohousing Group
For more information contact Gilo on 0424 490 554 or visit
http://sydneycohousing.blogspot.com/
Auspiced by Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre

Cohousing in Australia Article

Cohousing in Australia article featured in 
A R O U N D  T H E  H O U S E | The newsletter of Shelter NSW

Cohousing communities are
neighbourhoods which feature
common facilities, sustainable
living practices and good
connections with neighbourresidents,
with residents actively participating in the
design, planning and operation
of their own neighbourhoods.
That is, cohousing is a form of
intentional community.


http://www.shelternsw.org.au/docs/rpt11aroundhouse85.pdf

Sketch Your Vision Exercise

In our pursuit for a common vision for our future cohousing neighbourhood we talk and discuss theoretically what we want our life to look like in such community, we think about our homes our wider neighbourhood and how we envision them to be. but since its mostly theoretical it's hard for many of us to comprehend the physical scale of both our homes and community.

This vision realisation exercisethat I did to the Blue Mountains Cohousing group is the first of many, which its main purpose is to ground the group in thinking first about their individual homes by sketching it, and we do the same for the community,we then analyse the sketches.



This process helps raise questions about our wants and needs, how these correlates with our vision. it opens our eyes to the various possibilities and better understanding of what cohousing is. this exercise will also prepare the group for future design workshop if we hopefully reach to the stage where we have a land to build on.

cheers

gilo

‘Taste of Sociocracy’ Presentation

A full house of diverse and interesting people joined us in Katoomba neighbourhood centre for our ‘Taste of Sociocracy’ Presentation also known as Dynamic Governance. 
Lovely Lyndall gave us an insight of Dynamic Governance, what it means and how it works, and it sure did left us a taste for more.

Sociocracy Presentation in Sydney

 

 

Blue Mountains Cohusing Satll

Cohousing Stall

the Blue Mountains Cohousing will have a stall @ the BM Food Co-Op Fair In Blackheath.

come and meet us, learn more about the collaborative neighbourhood model while enjoying the beautiful mountain atmosphere

 

see you there

Sydney CoHousing Next Meeting

Saturday 19 Feburary 2011
Around 2:30PM
16a College Rd South
Riverview 2066

for more details contact Myung Jin
@ 0405 129 756

‘Taste of Sociocracy’ Workshop

a 2-3 hour ‘Taste of Sociocracy’ presentation  also called Dynamic Governance, by Lyndall Parris [Sydney Coastal Ecovillage]. Sociocracy assists in promoting more inclusiveness, transparency accountability and creativity. aim of the workshop is to assess its relevance and suitability as a form of governance.

 

Wednesday March 16

18:00-21:00

@

Katoomba Neighbourhood Centre, Blue Mountains 

8 station Street

Cost- $15
Food-Co-Op , Transitioning & Cohousing Members $10 

Discover a decision-making and governance method that allows an organisation to manage itself  efficiently while incorporating the wisdom of every member. Sociocracy utilises four principles derived from systems theory which guide groups of people to self-organise. The self-organised system that results is dynamic, rejuvenating and provides a framework for: 

. honouring the viewpoint of every member

. promoting egalitarian relationships

. encouraging active leadership, and

. developing individual and group discipline




 RSVP essential 
[limited spaces]  Contact Gilo  at  gilo.permatecture@gmail.com


Lyndall will run another workshop  in Sydney, details soon

Blue Mountains Cohousing

 the

  

next meeting will be held 

Sunday February 20 

the meetings are still open for new members.

meetings will run every 3rd weekend of the month

usually between 2-5pm

for more details contact Gilo

HAPPY   NEW 

 

YEAR

Design & Site Programing Workshop _Dec 12 2010

On Sunday Dec 12^th we all met for a short Design & Site Programming Workshop ran by Gilo. The aim was to establish further understanding of the desired site on Mowbary Rd. Chatswood, its constrains and advantages. Define the criteria for the site layout, especially for the community’s outdoor spaces framed by the location of the houses [building/ town houses], the common house, other outdoor activity areas, car and bicycle parking.

Building Model

In the workshop we built together  the site model which was very challenging to those who had never done it before. We then tested possible site plans and building layout that will optimise the qualities of the particular site and best fit the program we’ve defined. 

Gilo explaining the design concept

 

Through the Site and Building Programming workshop we were able to further understand the many issues we require to resolve, that will enable us to finalise the residents’ goals and criteria for the layout of their cohousing community, and the resulting site plan can then be turned into DA documents. 

 

Conceptual Sketches

Book Review - by Elly BMCOHO

Creating a Life Together – Practical Tools To Grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities By Diana Leafe Christian

This book is based on American experiences so not all of it is relevant to Australian communities.  I’m also abbreviating terribly, so I hope I don’t miss out too much.

 Introduction:

She describes the cohousing model as a small neighbourhood of 10-40 households managed by the residents, where they own their own homes and share ownership of community spaces.  Decisions are often made by consensus.    Sometimes meals are shared.

 Here she talks about why intentional communities succeed and fail. After visiting dozens of communities and interviewing dozens of people, she’s detected definite patterns in the behaviour of communities which succeed.  Within the cohousing model the figure is that 25 per cent succeed. This book is basically a distillation and overview of the pattern that the successful groups employ: this is what they did and the processes they put in place.  An important feature of successful groups is not just living together but the reasons for doing so, having a common purpose. 

Part One – Planting the Seeds of a healthy community (six chapters)

Chapter 1:  Structural Conflict: 

Here she first outlines a major problem area which she calls ‘structural conflict’, and six ways to reduce it.  Structural conflicts arise when explicit processes are not put in place, and create ‘time bombs’ which cause future group and personal conflicts.

1.         Identify a shared community vision and create vision documents (Chapter 4).  This should be discussed thoroughly and written down.  It can sometimes take months to unearth unconscious assumptions about what the group is for.

2.         Choose an appropriate decision-making process for the group.  (Chapter 6)  Power issues can create havoc, so the more power is shared the better.  Consensus is often used but sometimes is misunderstood, and you get pseudo-consensus, which is also very debilitating.  Ideally a group needs consensus training.

3.         Agreements need to be clear and in writing.  From the most important legalities and financial agreements to mundane decisions.

4.         Good group communication skills, including conflict resolution skills.

5.         New members policy – need to be chosen for emotional maturity.

6.         Learning new skills, both practical and emotional: head and heart skills.  It’s like trying to start a new business and a marriage simultaneously. 

Cost?  (Chp 9, 10, 11, 12, 14)

Altogether and per member?  This depends on desired area, land values, developed or undeveloped property, and other things.  Starting with undeveloped land will take more effort, time and money than developed buildings. 

 Time? 

Meeting weekly, you’ll still need separate committees to meet between these times, and so the process could take years.  Generally the larger the group, or smaller the assets, the longer it takes. 

As well as money, time, skills and people, she talks about ‘Community glue’, shared experiences between members: a quote is “The longest, most expensive personal-growth workshop you’ll ever take.” 

 What qualities do Group Members Need? (Chp 2)

Apart from the obvious, they also need patience, faith, good communication skills, tenacity, determination, and stamina, as well as a willingness to acknowledge others.

Organising the Group (Chp 3)

The first thing is not to go off and buy land.  The steps that are needed are not necessarily linear, but get done simultaneously.  (Photocopy pages 21, 22)

The main areas that need attention before you buy land are:

1.  Discuss our shared vision.

2.  Choose a decision-making method – find out about consensus.

3.  There’s a whole bunch of stuff we’re already doing, which I won’t talk about (eg. a decision log, et cetera)

4.  Create a preliminary financial model, to get a  rough idea of amount of money needed (Chp 9-16) by using assumptions about kinds of property, cost of search and legal setup, et cetera, and divide by number of members.  This gets constantly tweaked. 

5.  Arranging finances, she suggests that when a legal entity is to be created, or before land search, each member may need to contribute several thousand dollars for expenses; or perhaps start a membership fund, on a monthly contribution. 

Vision  Statements (Chapter 4)  (Photocopy page 39)

This is done before buying land.

She discusses elements of a vision statement.

The Vision is the Who, What, Where:

• Describes the shared future you want to create
• Reveals the group’s core values
• Expresses something each person can identify with
• Gives a reference point during disagreements

Mission:  This is the concrete expression of the shared vision

Values:  Expressed by how you behave now and intend to behave in the group.

Goals:  Milestones you commit to accomplish things.  They can be short term and measurable.

Strategy:  this is the How, When, and Where, and involves budgets, cash flow, timelines. 

Problems arising at this stage:  different group members can have slightly different visions, even though they’re expressed in the same words.   This needs thorough discussion. 

Vision documents (Chp 5)  are the written vision statement.  There are two steps in creating vision statements: Exploring the territory and writing it down. 

She outlines 7 different exercises to get at the kinds of shared vision that people have, and what people want.   These activities sound good, but quite time consuming.  They are:

• Individual values, Group Values (rich)
• Individual Values, group Values (Quick)
• Brainstorming
• Non-negotiables
• Where do we draw the line
• Public Private Scale

They all involve lots of sticky post-it notes on the walls, small group discussions, and red dots, et cetera (which some of you might be familiar with).  They are all designed to stimulate awareness of what you want.  There is a note taker who writes down  main points.  She suggests posters on walls to remind people of what they’re doing.   You’d have to devote a whole meeting to do this.    (Photocopy Page 54)

                        

Decision-Making  (Chapter 6)

A preferred method for making decisions is consensus decision-making, where all present must agree before action is taken.  Each person can speak and is listened to. People do not vote yes or not, but proposals are introduced, discussed and eventually decided on.  They can be improved or modified during discussion.  When deciding, people either: give consent; stand aside; or block. 

Agreement-seeking: This falls between majority rule and consensus.  There’s discussion of proposal, modification and then a vote.  The result needs much more than a simple majority, something like 55-95 per cent. 

Consensus needs:

• Willingness to learn the process.  There is a strong need for training and practice over a few days, or else misunderstanding occurs and creates problems (pseudo-consensus).
• Common purpose, which is used when people disagree.
• Willingness to share power.
• Willingness to let go of personal attachments for the group’s benefit.
• Trusting the process.  By sharing ideas, the group will arrive at a better solution.  Trusting each other to listen and share.
• Humility:  Sometimes considering that one’s personal beliefs about community may be wrong.
• Equal access to power.
• Physical participation.  No-one decides by proxy.  Agreement arises from discussion.
• Not all topics need the whole group.
• Good agendas and skilled facilitation.
• Enough time. 

Pseudo-consensus: This is a problem when people don’t understand and results in structural conflict. 

• Some people talk the rest down.
• Discussion by endurance.
• Everyone has to decide everything.
• People don’t understand the process of blocking.  A block only stands if it is consistent with the group’s stated purpose, otherwise it’s not valid.  

Part Two:  Sprouting a new Community – Techniques and Tools

Chapter 7: Good Documents Make Good Friends.

When making agreements, particularly financial, they need to be written down from the beginning, because people remember things differently.  A group member writes down what everyone thinks they’re agreeing to, and reads it back for confirmation. 

Agreements, also called Policies and Guidelines, in the forming stage they might be:

• Vision documents, policies about membership, decision-making processes, minutes.
• Later they could get more complicated:
• Articles of Incorporation, Community Structure overview, food policy, conflict resolution policy, financial policy which encompasses any agreement about money, visitor policy, land planning, et criteria. 

Chapter 8:  Establishing Your Legal Entity

Not really sure what’s applicable here.  But if you don’t have a legal entity before buying land, you’re unlikely to get bank support.  Also, few lawyers or accountants really understand anything about intentional communities, so you need to make a lot of decisions first before seeing a lawyer, and know which structures fit you best. 

The legal structures that you choose affect: 

• How the title to the land is held
• Property rights
• Financing options
• Tax consequences
• Members’ liability
• Ability to attract new members

Common Legal Entities:  (from chapters 15 and 16)

Some options that might be useful:

Corporations: 

1.      A non-profit corporation is, like a for-profit corporation, an entity distinct from the people who operate it, so any claims are filed against it rather than the people individually, who have ‘limited liability’.  However, a non-profit is one organised to benefit a certain group of people.  No income can be distributed to members, accept there can be employees who receive pay for work. 

2.      Exempt Non-Profit Corporation has a tax exempt status, but needs approval.  Or it can be Non-exempt. 

Limited Liability Companies: 

These have particular tax advantages and are flexible.

           

Community Associations

1.         Cooperatives (or housing coops).   They are corporations which own the property.  Residents own shares in the corporation and lease their individual dwellings from it.

It needs a board of directors, elected officers, an annual meeting, and makes decisions about the operations of the association.   In co-housing, the members can be the board.  The number of shares you own might depend on the size of your house.  Shares can pass from one owner to another, through sale or inheritance, but the right to live in a house must be approved by the board. 

(Photocopy pg  184)

2.         Limited Equity Housing Cooperative.  Used to create affordable housing for those who need it.  The price of shares does not go up with escalating housing prices.  Members make payments to the bank.  When they leave they are reimbursed their down payment plus cost of living increases.  Mortgage payments remain in the coop as equity.  It is not an investment opportunity, but there is no undue financial burden. 

Chapter 9:  Land buying

Two most challenging aspects of buying land are zoning regulations and securing finance.

Chapter 10Ask yourself these questions:

1.  Which region, and why?

2.  How much land are you looking for?

3.  Do you want raw or developed land?

4.  How much do you want to pay for land?  How much for development and construction?

5.  How much and what kind of financing do you have? 

The answers depend largely on the purpose of your community, how many members, zoning and population density regulations, et cetera, and may need to be revised over the course of the land search. 

For raw land, there is a lower initial cost, plus years of effort.  Developing the property costs money, for power, water, sewerage, et cetera.  It is time consuming for several people at least.  Does the development fund include labour costs?  Can you afford the time to wait before you live there? 

For developed land, you have somewhere to live/stay/eat/sleep while building.  You save money in the end since improvements would cost more today.  There is an initial great cost to members. 

Shopping for land and finances is probably a full time job for someone. 

Chapter 12:  Financing

Points to think about for financing:

1.  What is the groups’ borrowing power – figure this out prior to buying land. 

2.  Know each other’s credit rating.

3.  Get property valued

4.  No loans with early repayment penalties.

5.  Negotiate for no repayment or low repayments for the first few years.

6.  Seek fixed rate loans.

7.  Establish a contingency fund. 

Chapter 13:   Development process

One issue she talks about is avoiding the urban refugee syndrome, where people from the city are so traumatised by city life that they want huge open spaces around themselves.  This causes problems for maintenance of pathways and roads, costs of distribution of services – water, power – and communication.  So creating privacy in a close community can be done with strategic planning of living areas:  living areas placed away from public face of houses; windows don’t open onto the next door windows; careful soundproofing.  (Photocopy page 150)

Chapter 14: Internal finances.

1. One question raised in this chapter was about having a community owned business, and the possible tax status this would have.  Possibly leaning towards a non-profit or limited liability legal structure. 

2.  Joining fees:  This aspect of internal financing varies widely across groups.  But it’s useful to provide initial set-up costs.

(Photocopy pgs 160, 161, 162, 163)  Everyone of these examples has a different internal financial structure. 

3.  Another budget that needs to be made is a labour budget.  This creates and account of how many hours are spent doing  community jobs.   This fund depends on how much community work there is, and how fast it needs to be done.