Co-Op living in America

[Chef Remy]

Wish there more places in the US that  had Co-Op living apartments or house's. Not roommates.

When I was Europe stayed at Co-Op housing in Holland for four days.

Everyone took turns cooking dinner and doing dishes during the week. But people had there own rooms and space. So it wasn't like having roommates. And the group of people seemed to get along and knew each other but were respectful.

Being in my thirties. I like my space and privacy. But worry about what if something happened to me. And don't really have that many people I am close in the city I am in.

[Ciki]

Maybe you can put up an announcement that says that you are searching for people to live in Co-Op house with?Or maybe you can look it up on the Internet,to see if someone is offering rooms?

 

In Europe,WGs (how i know and call them at least) are mostly used by students that don't have enough money so they stay together in order to lessen their taxes.But i think those who aren't students could also use them.

 

By the way,do you live in a house or a flat?I'm asking because depending on where you live,your options are different.

[Chef Remy]

Yes, when I was looking at grad schools. Looked at places that rented rooms specifically to grad students, 21-28 was the average age. With your own room and shared kitchen and living room.

Just looking for something a little communal than roommates though. Heard some senior living places have Co-Op living here in the USA. Maybe it culture thing? With Holland vs other countries. With single people mixed male and female living together sharing house chores and trying to have dinner together and share the cooking and dishes, not being poly either. But people actually getting together in the real world and spending time together. Call me old fashion I guess.

Know some other people have mention Co-Op living for single people and asexual’s who are in their late twenties and older.

I live with roommates at the moment in house. I don't have much in common with them but we are not strangers. Just don't have much in common with any of them.

 

[Ciki]

Yes,yes i know what i Co-Op house is.

 

Hmm,i don't know how i could help you.I'm European,so i'm not really knowledgable about Co-Ops in America.

 

But as i said:maybe you can try making an announcement that you're searching for a Co-Op house or try finding announcements yourself.

 

You could maybe try your luck on the Internet or by talking to people.

 

I've never personally lived in a WG (Co-Op house),so i'm mostly saying all of this from what i had heard.Also,everything that i had heard about WGs is from Europe,so the situation might not be the same in the US.

 

 

 

(P.S) Why i use WG:

WG is short for Wohngemeinschaft in German and it is basically a German term for a Co-Op house.

[KathyHoh]

That is a great idea to avoid loneliness without a romantic partner. I am not interested in dating but worried about my future lonely life. I also dream of co parenting with other Asexual single parents. It would be like marriage between two single parents minus the sex and romance. hmmm

[Ciki]

@KathyHoh glad you like the idea😊

[Zagadka]

My happiest period in life was co-op living, mostly in college. I really miss that lifestyle. It is really rare to find in the US. Public housing is really rare - almost everything is privately owned by a single person, and most new structures are single family housing. Even apartments never go co-op. I miss the communal living and social elements. I miss the group meetings and co-op organization. Living in a single family unit doesn't suit me. There are 4 adults here, and it isn't small enough to be alone enough, nor big enough to have a communal benefit. It is just crowded.

 

I was born on the wrong continent.

[Memento1]

On 2/4/2020 at 9:00 PM, Zagadka said:

My happiest period in life was co-op living, mostly in college.

Ha, same!  My happiest living situation was actually dorm living, especially in my last year when I had my own room.  It was a perfect mix of having my own space but having a large, active community and friends to socialize with just outside my door.  Having housemates has been nowhere near the same.

[the great acescape]

Thank god somebody already started a post on this, because I've been thinking a lot about this recently. I think that in the U.S. especially, there's this distrust of communal living, since at least in the popular imagination they tend to conjure images of cults like Heaven's Gate.

 

I remember around 3 months ago when I was watching Psych and Monk, there was an episode in each show where the respective heroes had to go to a commune to solve a case, and surprise surprise, it was run by a cult.

[Nylocke]

Most people I know are either living with their parents/family still or struggling to pay for a room on their own. Not much I can say on this topic considering I've not lived anywhere else then with my parents though ...

[Princess KittenSparkles]

wtf is co-op housing....? 

[Ciki]

10 minutes ago, Princess KittenSparkles said:

wtf is co-op housing....? 

Oof,there's a lot of explaining to do.

 

I think there's a deffinition up here,in this thread somewhere.Try to find it.Good luck😊💖♠

[Howard]

6 hours ago, Princess KittenSparkles said:

wtf is co-op housing....? 

Co-op housing is hard to define because it can vary alot from country to country and from province to province. Here in Quebec, it's simply another word for what Americans would call projects. In British-Columbia, I knew a lady that bought someone's share of a row of townhouses and was elected into a housing coop.

In Nova Scotia, there are a few appartment buildings that were paid for by the tenants, a bit like condos, but without middlemen. They needed to pay a few thousands of dollars each to pay the builders and then they pay each a share for the upkeep of the building and taxes.

From what I understand from this thread, in Europe it's yet another thing.

[Kuhle]

I lived in what is called co-housing in the USA, and found it to be very cult like.  I will not try living in a co-housing community again unless I interview the people who left and ask why they left. 

[Princess KittenSparkles]

2 minutes ago, Kuhle said:

I lived in what is called co-housing in the USA, and found it to be very cult like.  I will not try living in a co-housing community again unless I interview the people who left and ask why they left. 

Oooh! Ok, Co-op housing put in this way I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. Why don't you interview yourself? Why did you leave and what made it 'cult-like'? Where did you live? (if you can say).

 

I would HATE living in co-op housing then. I like people and being around them but I need my privacy and personal space. 

[Kuhle]

There was no personal space at all, it was like living in a fish bowl, even though I owned my own unit.  The people talked about you, behind your back, if you kept to your self.  I lived in two co-housing communities for a total of 9 years and each was the same.  It was very sad and cruel if you did not fit the mold of what the people in charge thought you should be in.  I so wanted it to work out, and tried to fit in as much as possible, but I decided that my mental health was far more important.