Cohousing / Coliving 3.0

NEW GENERATION OF COMMUNITY HOUSING

What you’ll find here

  • My cohousing journey
  • A source of information – London training
  • The biggest problems of groups when starting projects
  • Why you should start a project despite problems
  • I created my own system - Cohousing 3.0
  • What makes Cohousing 3.0 different and what makes it useful
  • What’s next?

My cohousing journey

My journey to cohousing projects started with my desire to become a part of a meaningful and conscious cohousing community.

Over a period of several years, I attended all sorts of events and occasions where various organizations promoted cohousing as the future of living – but I couldn’t find any meaningful information as to how to make this dream a reality. 

I heard a barage of words and promises telling me what the government was doing to support such projects, but I didn’t see any real help extended to groups which wanted to build their own homes and communitites. A small number of groups achieves their dream goal because they have competent leaders, but the remaining groups lose themselves within the multitude of words, slogans, promises, and vague information. Although various organizations try to improve the situation in this field as well, results are very slow to materialize.

Several examples of cohousing projects already do exist and they are happy to provide information to the general public. However, that clearly isn’t enough; we must figure out how to get from words to actions and most groups don’t know how to navigate the entire process in relation to their particular situations.

At these events, I came across people who had been trying to develop their own projects much longer than I have! Typically, it was 8 – 12 years! Despite that, they hadn’t been able to move forward. Also, many groups fell apart as time went by. 

And I still couldn’t figure out the reason. Why was this happening? I thought that perhaps my limited knowledge of English systems was at fault. I couldn’t understand why things were being done in such complicated ways? And why wasn’t any useful and meaningful information in sight, despite endless lectures and webinars? 

A long time ago, my ex-husband and I managed to build a house together within three years‘ time, on our own, as completely naive young amateurs, so I couldn’t grasp why an entire group wasn’t able to construct a project within 10 years‘ time???

At these events, I came across people who had been trying to develop their own projects much longer than I have! Typically, it was 8 – 12 years! Despite that, they hadn’t been able to move forward. Also, many groups fell apart as time went by. 

And I still couldn’t figure out the reason. Why was this happening? I thought that perhaps my limited knowledge of English systems was at fault. I couldn’t understand why things were being done in such complicated ways? And why wasn’t any useful and meaningful information in sight, despite endless lectures and webinars? 

A long time ago, my ex-husband and I managed to build a house together within three years‘ time, on our own, as completely naive young amateurs, so I couldn’t grasp why an entire group wasn’t able to construct a project within 10 years‘ time???

Source of information – London training

So I decided to go where one can obtain the most information: at the source. 

I completed a months-long intensive training for cohousing advisors in London, and that’s where I discovered the weaknesses in this whole system. As well as the reason why so many groups couldn’t move forward with their efforts to complete their projects. Where the weak spots are of the groups dreaming their dream of nice housing. 

Just like I’d dreamed and made the same mistakes because I‘d trusted the information we were being fed about cohousing. But the information doesn’t work. Now I finally now why.

The biggest problems of groups when starting projects

So, here is the list of the main issues I see here in the UK, but from my research into projects in USA I know that they struggle with these as well. Therefore, I am assuming that these are the general problems group face when they are just beginning:

  • Lack of finances and lack of space for construction or reconstruction. Competition from large developers and a low willingness of local administrative organizations to help these kinds of groups.
  • Imbalance between feminine and masculine energy during project creation; female energy and its needs and processes are completely ignored which leads to the inability of a large number of groups to unite in their approach. Focus is only placed on tangible results and goals (finances, land, construction, laws...). Preparation of groups and individuals for the entire project is missing, and so is the building of relationships within the entire group, not only among the main leaders.
  • It’s not clear where groups can find qualified professionals for each individual part of the project. As of now, there aren’t many such professionals and they are not very visible. If they are, they are expensive and newly forming groups cannot afford to pay them. The solution to this issue in the initial phase is either grants – but those are hard to obtain. Alternately, it would be wise for the groups to establish financial management and planning/generating of collective income which would create resources from which to pay the expert professionals.
  • Groups are, in the vast majority of cases, completely disorganized and non-homogenous. Except for interest in living nicely for an acceptable price, their members don’t have anything in common – and they don’t see this as a problem because no one talks about it. So it’s considered a matter of course.
  • A lot of group members are not willing to participate in the project work – they are waiting for someone to take care of it for them so that they can move in.
  • In general, there is a huge amount of enthusiasm for this type of living and lifestyle, but only the advantages are presented publically – the problems are not mentioned. This creates false hopes and unrealistic expectations. So people actually have no idea what such projects entail and what to prepare for.
  • If a non-homogenous group manages to complete the project and move in, they begin to struggle with issues arising from different values and lifestyles, as well as with communication regarding how the project should continue functioning. Some groups manage to finetune this over the years; many projects completely fall apart.
  • Most people interested in cohousing projects are financially naive; they aren’t very versed in finances and business management and they don’t even see the need to acquire some skills in this area. They naivelly believe that once they‘ll receive grants and easier access to land for construction from the government, their dream life shall begin.
  • The endless waiting for promised grants and access to land completely blocks most groups for many years. They think and act only in familiar ruts and often it doesn’t even occur to them to look for a different solution than the one recommended by the Matrix.
  • Groups often lack strong and competent leadership who knows how to involve capable and ready-to-act professional experts. As long as there’s no action leader with a clear vision, there is no project.
  • On the other hand, leaders get exhausted over time if they try to do everything by themselves; or, in some cases, they become autocrats and manipulate the group in unwanted ways. Don’t forget that the foundations of cohousing projects stand on collective management and decision making. Which is very difficult to achieve in groups that are not homogenous.
  • The groups have no idea that even though they might have to wait for years to obtain grants and land, they MUST, in the meantime, systematically work on themselves and on relationships within the group, in order for every member to achieve a similar level of energy, knowledge, and values. This will also ensure that only those who are truly interested in the project and in cooperation will remain in the group. Many future problems will be avoided this way, including the need to accept anyone from the outside into the project just because they are on the list of housing applicants.
  • There is no comprehensive, functional system for leading and educating groups interested in a cohousing project. Official systems and guides for creating a successful cohousing project are extremely complicated and vague. The English are true masters of this and it was even the topic of jokes during my training in London.
  • Everyone talks about the topic of cohousing a lot, usually in specialized slang which is truly useless; clear advice and guidelines are hard to come by. Thanks to the specialized training in London, I was able to get a clear picture of how the entire system works here in the UK. That cured me of my own unrealistic expectations and procedures which are generally recommended. And which I was trying to apply myself, for my own intended project.
  • Official education in this area is such that even when many many words are spoken – thanks to professional slang and repetition of well-known slogans which are supposed to invoke a semblance of competence – you don’t learn a lot of useful information. In London, I realized that even very competent advisors who had been working in this area for many years still weren’t completely clear about how the system worked. To me, the training in London was the only source where I received truly high-quality and well-organized information. I never got that anywhere else.
  • Not once did I meet an advisor who would be an expert in the whole process. As the system requires. On the contrary - individual parts and processes in the project are so specialized and so different that advisors solve this by specializing. It’s logical – architects or builders are not qualified in psychology and group preparation, while a psychologist is not qualified to handle business accounting, legal matters, or grants. I did the same in regard to my own work – I focus on my specialization and I have a set of contact information for experts in other phases of the project.

Why you should start a project despite the problems

  • I saw that when the right group of people, who have the same approach and values, gets together, they can create unbelieavably functional communities. Heaven on Earth, quite literally. Regardless of age! I was surprised to see how many people over 60 are very active in these projects. No waiting for retirement and talking about aches and pains! 🙂
  • The relational and economic systems some groups are able to create to support themselves and their community – are incredible. You won’t find that anywhere else. No government could create it for you. And you won’t be able to create it either if you keep living your life - even a pleasant one - on your own, with only infrequent visits from friends.
  • Very often, these communities focus on ecological lifestyle and behaving responsibly towards other people and the planet. Thus, they start changing the world in a practical way, from themselves.
  • They are much more independent on outside environment and influences than individuals are able to be.
  • A successfully and consciously built community is a balm for both body and soul for all involved, regardless of age – thanks to the relationships, systems, and activities which are conducted within.
  • It‘s a very different environment for raising children and their communication. It creates natural educational processes and environments and there are people here from whom children can learn good things. And as a result, they don’t have a reason to be constantly glued to their mobiles and computers. They live in the real, not virtual, world.
  • Parents with children suddenly don’t have unexpected issues with childcare anymore – a helping hand is always within reach. Some projects even have their own preschools.
  • The usual social isolation of people is completely absent. You’re not alone with your problems. Or your joys. There are people around you who care about you. And you, naturally, care about them.
  • Many communities strive to create job positions and actively support their residents economically in other ways.
  • Many communities also actively educate or support their wider surroundings with their activities – they do not live just for themselves. Creativity here has no limits and practically anything can be accomplished if you know how to do it and you dare. The ideal place for personal development in all directions. 🙂

I created my own system - Cohousing 3.0

Well, once my training for cohousing advisors in London was over, I decided  not to go down the beaten path of the system, but to create a different way, more meaningful to me, of helping groups achieve their dream housing. To add what the process was missing. I named my system Cohousing 3.0 – the path for the aware.

  • brings together people who only want to live at an affordable price and they are not interested in anything extra. They are not interested in any cooperation with other fellow citizens, they go into the project only for housing.

  • brings together people who are excited about the idea of community living and improving the state of our planet, but still not awakened people. They use only the possibilities offered by the material world and the market situation.

  • brings together conscious people who are in the process of transformation, who know how to work with the material and invisible world, and who want to live and create in accordance with natural laws and natural cycles, in addition to pleasant living in a community at affordable prices.

Awakened and energetically growing people need a completely different quality of home and community than those who have not awakened, because they are highly perceptive of the energies around them. If your house is isolated from other dwellings, it’s relatively ok. But if your home is a part of a row of townhouses or if you live in an apartment building, your neighbors and their lifestyles have a much bigger impact on you than you can guess.

Moreover, the cohousing Matrix is designed only for masculine methods and energies. If you are not strictly on masculine energy, participating in the chase for housing and grants will be problematic for you. 

On the other hand, if the focus is only on achieving clear, specific results, groups often fall apart  because foundations for relationships are not being built and no one focuses on unifying the group and collective growth. This means working with feminine energy. Clear, specific results are slow to arrive in this area and in the meantime, nothing is happening; the group dies a slow death.

In order to live in new energies and new communities, all group members need to be stabilized and finetuned at roughly the same level. It does matter who is in your community and who is on the other side of the bedroom wall. Because you are very perceptive to the energies around you.

That’s why I created a path for the aware – Cohousing 3.0.

The point of this solution is integrating masculine and feminine energies within the project so that all participants may understand the work with energies and know how to work with them.

What makes Cohousing 3.0 different and what makes it useful?

  • It focuses on preparing the entire group and its collective growth from the very beginning. It doesn’t wait to build relationships and cooperation „once we’ve moved in“.
  • By using the prepared transformation programs, groups will tune themselves onto the same level of energy and values and will grow to understand the process of creation in a new way – work with mindfulness, with energies, the quantum method – as the foundation of all creation, cooperation, and communication.
  • In the prepared transformation programs, individual people from the group will learn how to work with energies and how to harmonize their own homes, lives, self-healing, financial literacy and responsibility, as well as conscious communication within the family and the group. This will make it much easier to unite the group in its intentions and project work. And ensure the prosperity of the whole group.
  • It teaches how to build a project by using feminine energy too, not just purely masculine methods which completely omit the first step - the time necessary for establishing a good and homogenous group – and instead go straight „into action“. Masculine energy wants to built, expand, chase after results – but often, it doesn’t have a place to build or people to build with because it doesn’t consider relationships and collective growth as important. And that’s why it doesn’t get anywhere.
  • It teaches how to build housing without depending on finances promised by the government – which are out of reach for most groups anyway and the information surrounding them is barely comprehensible. Thousands of words about nothing. • It teaches how to speed up the entire building process of the project with new methods of work and creation.
  • It teaches groups how to find new paths to achieving their housing. It’s about creativity but also a collective work of minds.
  • It teaches how to build a project when you have trouble attaining mortgage – they are still often necessary even for today’s cohousing projects.
  • It teaches how to stop wasting time in preparation phases when things are still moving slowly and not much seems to be happening.
  • It teaches how to build sources of collective income which will make the entire process easier and shorter for the group.