housing co-ops

[catalyst]

hi
i work for catalyst collective, we help people set up co-operatives... quite a few of these are rural enabling people to get pretty self sufficient...
whilst many of the urban co-ops we´ve worked with have allotments etc..
check out our website http://www.catalystcollective.co.uk

also, we are a member of radical routes, a network of established co-ops working for social change... http://www.radicalroutes.org.uk

[Muddypause]

Useful sites, Cat.

I tell you what I think would be useful, and that's a site that would enable people to make contact with others with similar housing needs or wants. Maybe such a site exists, but I haven't found it yet.

F'rinstance, it looks increasingly unlikely that I will ever be able to afford to live in the sort of environment that I want to, but if two or three, or maybe more people had similar aspirations, we could perhaps combine resources and make a dream come true collectively.

[catalyst]

to some degree it has been done...check out:

http://www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk/pnppage.htm

or check out the radical routes co-ops, many are open to/need new members..

have you thought about joining a community... i wouldn´t say there weren´t problems with this idea.. but there are a lot of benefits too... most peasant cultures are tribal... co-operation is what has enabled humans to colonize this planet, and this western acquisition culture is suicide...

you may find your dream
andy

[Muddypause]

have you thought about joining a community

Yes. And no. I've hung around on the periphery of a few communities over the years, sometimes getting involved as much as a non-resident can, sometimes just as a visitor. And I have thought long and hard about joining one. Several editions of Diggers&Dreamers are on my bookshelf.

But in truth, I think I've realised I'm not really a community sort of guy. Some people obviously thrive in that environment, but I'm much better suited to living alone. But in the event that that is impossible, I could see a way that combining resources with one or two others may be a realistic way forward.

Ideally, I would like a couple of acres, where I could build a house with my own hands, grow vegetables, keep chickens... I'm quite prepared to spend five or more years doing all the building work myself, and to live in a tin can for the duration. But getting all the pieces of the jigsaw to fit around the finance is a problem, and the price of land, even in the cheapest areas, continues to rocket out of reach.

But occasionally there seems to be a glimmer at the end of the tunnel.

[catalyst]

thats why we´re in portugal.. land prices etc... now we´re here i wouldn´t wanna move back...
we have 2 hectares of terraces, vines, olives, fruit, chickens, ducks, geese,... my life pretty much between workin on land and computer - making a living here can be hard, i´m lucky i´m the catalyst member with all the legal structure info in my head... which i can do by email, and i´m just relearning how to write html from my wife who has created www.pureportugal.co.uk
we just about manage with 2 of our children living here in what is effectively a breezeblock shed.

www.purepoprtugal.co.uk is also a co-op, with 3 of us hoping to earn basic wages from it eventually...

what communities have you spent time with? they are all very different.

[Muddypause]

what communities have you spent time with? they are all very different.

Years ago I was a very frequent visitor to Lower Shaw Farm. It no longer runs as a community, but up until a few years ago it operated as a small community of three or four families, plus a few occasional others, in a listed farm house that was rented from the council. They were all lovely people, but personnel changes brought conflict, and the long term stalwarts eventually all moved out leaving one person and her children living there. Eventually the place was abandoned, so one of the original families moved back in, but had found the previous conflict so distressing that they vowed never to have any other permanent residents there with them.

I was also part of The Community Project in their formative stage, while they were looking for premises. We viewed several large country houses that may have been suitable to buy communally, but the decision was finally made to buy a large former hospital in Sussex. They seem to have made a great success of this, but it required a lot of people to work together to make it happen. I didn't want to live with so many others, and I didn't really like the building or it's location, so I bowed out.

More recently I became friendly with a resident at Laurieston Hall, in SW Scotland, so became a regular visitor there for a few weeks at a time. A stunningly beautiful place, with 150 odd acres of grounds around a huge mansion, with their own loch foreshore, extensive woodlands, a hydro-electric generator powered from a burn that runs through the grounds. They keep a herd of cows and some pigs, make their own cheese, have a fabulous walled vegetable garden, and for a peppercorn licence fee they can cut all the dead wood they need in the adjacent Forestry Commission land... Amazing to think that this place was bought in the early 70s for £25k. Over the years the community has been through many changes, including 70s ideals such as shared incomes, pooled resources, and free love. It's not like that now, and people live there as individuals, but with a common interest in the daily running of the place.

I've been to a few others, too, to attend courses, for a holiday, or just to spend an afternoon visiting. Community life is undoubtedly more interesting than East Enders, and can be fun for a few days, but is not for me in the long term.

[catalyst]

just had an email saying that brithdir mawr are looking for new members...
unfortunately seems the available rooms are only suited to single people and childless couples?


quote
"BTW rent/contributions here at the moment are roughly £170 per month
for a single person (includes all bills, evening meals most weekdays,
plus bread, veg, milk, eggs and so on) - a bit less if we have a
couple more people living here. We do around 3 days community work a
week, maybe a little less - gardening, farm stuff, or whatever people
are good at, and then most people have a part time job outside the
community to pay the rent "
check it out:
http://www.brithdirmawr.com