The idea of growing old surrounded by friends as an alternative to residential homes is a trend in Europe and the United States and has already been given a name: ‘senior cohousing’.
These are housing communities where seniors share common services, social and recreational activities and, above all, enjoy life with their partners and friends. Seniors can live in their own home and maintain their independence, but also visit their neighbours and enjoy a common garden, dining room or library.
Cohousing was born in the 1970s in Denmark and the Netherlands. Initially, the idea was to house young couples to help each other with children and housework. In the 1980s it began to spread to other countries such as Sweden, Germany and Canada. But in Europe and the United States the idea has become especially popular not so much with young people, but with older people.
New Ground, the UK’s first senior cohousing community exclusively for women
Chipping Barnet, a north London suburb, is an unlikely place for a feminist utopia. Yet it is here, at the top of the high street, beyond the Susi Earnshaw drama school and the Joie de Vie patisserie, that we find Britain’s first cohousing community exclusively for women over 50.
Instead of living alone, these 26 women decided to opt for this model of collaborative housing or ‘cohousing’ which has 25 houses with 26 residents, eight of these houses are social rented housing, a place where we find individual houses of our own or rented, with additional spaces for socialising, yoga classes or activities such as gardening.
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