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Why senior co-housing is a good idea for Mountain View

by Charles Durrett

Over the years, one group of potential neighbors after another — at least five that I can count — have unsuccessfully attempted to build a co-housing community in Mountain View. Now, appropriately, the organizing group is a mature adult co-housing community.

For the last 21 years, since our first book, "Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves," arrived on the scene, property values have been just too expensive. Perhaps the silver lining in this whole economic downturn is that for the first time in recent memory, the citizens of Mountain View can afford to play a role in the development of one of their own neighborhoods.

Like Mountain View, many towns struggle to provide viable long-term neighborhood-based housing for their seniors. For many residents, growing older simply means moving out of town.

This robs Mountain View of its elders: the seniors of the community and the very people who have contributed so much throughout the years in shaping this town. Why ask them to leave friends and family when they need them most? Too often, seniors move several times in their later years to avoid isolation and seeking the level of support that fits their needs.

In co-housing, neighbors craft not only the level of support that is appropriate for them, but also, with our help, an extremely sophisticated level of design. A design that takes into consideration the discerning requirements of this city, and includes the priorities of these Mountain View residents.

The objective is to build a place that reflects real values — not only quality of life and a beautiful aesthetic design, but living lighter on the planet. The Mountain View co-housing community will possibly be the most sustainable development built in the entire Bay Area for some time.

Every green feature that we can muster will be incorporated into the fabric of the design. (As an example of efficiencies possible in co-housing communities, my family's electric bill from last year was -$83.84, representing at least 20 tons less carbon put into the atmosphere over the last 10 months than by my neighbors living outside of co-housing.) This is only one of a hundred features that will set Mountain View's co-housing community — located in a unique and attractive garden just two a few blocks from Castro Street — apart.

This town has much art and vibrancy. You can see it in the thoughtful planning and in the faces of the people I meet and talk to. Mountain View is like other great towns of our time, such as Boulder, Colo. or Bellingham, Wash., where co-housing is helping to define a greener lifestyle. Boulder has three up and thriving co-housing communities, including one designed by McCamant & Durrett Architects, which just won a major AIA design award.

We're looking forward to encouragement from the citizens of Mountain View for applying creative solutions to retaining their treasured elders, keeping them productive and allowing them to age with strong spirits while giving back to the town they love.

Architect Charles Durrett is author of "Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living." More information is available at www.cohousing.org or groups.yahoo.com or by writing mvcohousing@earthlink.net or calling (650) 965-9590.