Sydney Co-Housing Meetup

Our purpose - three things:

1. We want to change the conversation and make the places we live in better.
2. We want to organise the community to bring that closer to reality.
3. We want to become a resource "hub" for people interested in making co-housing a reality.

The benefits of co-housing
There are lots of potential benefits of co-housing. Some include: \

• older people (women, in particular) who might otherwise live alone can have the win-win of privacy and autonomy as well as community \
• sharing resources: in some co-housing models, residents share resources including in a shared kitchen, garden, and a common living room. This could be extended to include a workshop, a co-operative run shop, or many other possibilities. \
• we would live in a genuine community.

First steps

1. Share this page, get people joined up.
2. Become an informed group - share your knowledge
   Read some of the resources listed below (see Before your first meeting).
   We recognise there are a range of views of what exactly co-housing is. There's questions about inclusionary housing rates (e.g. 30%) for lower income households, people with a disability or older residents living alone. There are questions about building types - do we build something new or renovate something existing. How would we fund that (private, public, community, a mix)?
3. Let's get together.

Before your first meeting
Do some research about co-housing. We recommend these two resources:

1. UTS Collaborative Living website \

https://www.collaborativehousing.org.au/
2. Charles Durrett and Kathryn McCamant's book Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities https://g.co/kgs/WDLh5Q

Where are we based?
We are Sydney based and would realistically focus our efforts there. We think City of Sydney and Inner West Councils may be the most receptive ... but if you know better, then let us know.

Who are we?
This MeetUp group site has been set up by two concerned citizens (Kiki and David). We are a male and female housemate in a share house, both a little older, who see the benefits of living in community and believe co-housing solves a number of social, housing, transport, and community problems in one go.

Skills and knowledge
Obviously, we don't know it all. We will need to draw on people with a range of skills at different points. These skills include housing policy, property law, architecture and design of properties and neighbourhoods, property development and town planning as well as community development, capital raising, financing, and more. But there are experts out there.

Our group's main focus is informing and organising a community of people who are interested in making co-housing a reality.