Tell Me More:
The Benefits of Living in a Community

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Sustainable community and development begin in our own backyards. Living in a community provides social, economic, time, ecological, neighborhood, and child-rearing benefits.

• Safe environment--All residents know each other. This degree of safety can only be achieved by communities who know and care for friends and neighbors.
• Opportunities for social interaction--Provides interaction without sacrificing privacy and stops the isolation of apartment and/or suburban living. Sharing of skills and talents with other members such as music, cooking or gardening also supports social interaction.
• Social support--Provides emotional support and a sense of unity and belonging plus emotional support during stressful times such as illness, family deaths, and childbirth.
• Healthier Lifestyle--Share exercise with people in your community plus planned exercise areas, activities, and even classes. Meals that are nutritionally balanced, home-cooked, non-processed, and organic without the daily cooking hassle. Better mental health because of social support, shared hobby areas, and planned meditation and quiet areas.
• Sharing resources, saved time, and lower living costs--Allows residents access to more facilities than they would have on their own such as community gardens, greenhouse, play areas, workshops, art/craft areas, and shared dining and kitchen facilities in the community areas. Local food and other buying co-ops can be formed with optional membership from residents and even membership among the outlying community if desired. Shared meals, car pooling, shared baby-sitting, less travel, less yard work, more on-site activities, smaller homes, clustered housing, possibility of owning a reduced number of cars, trading goods, and shared guest rooms all save living costs. Shared chores and less duplication of effort saves an abundance of time.
• Privacy—Living in community provides private living, dining and kitchen facilities within a private home with most home styles providing small private outdoor living areas as well.
• Children--With others to help with child rearing duties, intergenerational residents, additional role models, playmates within the community, safe places to play within the community, parents are relieved of some of the time and stress of child raising and actually have more quality time to spend with their children and each other.
• Environmentally friendly--There are more opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle when working as a group. Rather than use space for houses, streets, and parking, clustered housing allows cohousing communities to preserve much of the green space of the site. Passive solar housing can be designed. Some alternative energy sources can be included in the community and even within the homes.

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