‘This is the future of aging’: Senior(ˈsēnyər) co-housing communities(kəˈmyo͞onitē

‘This is the future of aging’: Senior(ˈsēnyər) co-housing communities(kəˈmyo͞onitē
) provide alternatives(ôlˈtərnətiv)

By Janis Mara

If Carmel(kärˈmel) Hara, 86, gets sick(sik), there are a host of neighbors(ˈnābər) in her Oakland(ˈōklənd) building ready to bring her soup(so͞op). If she wants company, there’s a common room with a library and a kitchen, and she puts in several hours a week helping to run the management office.

Hara is part of a growing local and national(ˈnaSHənəl) trend — senior co-housing.

She lives at Phoenix(ˈfēniks) Commons, a 41-unit senior co-housing community in Oakland’s Jingletown arts district(ˈdistrikt), at 340 29th Ave.(avenue ˈavəˌn(y)o͞o), that opened in March 2016. Located right next to the Park Street Bridge, the four-story(ˈstôrē) condo(ˈkändō) complex is touted(tout,to͞o) as the first co-housing community formally(ˈfôrməlē) dedicated(ˈdediˌkātid) to seniors in the East Bay.

Co-housing — defined as private(ˈprīvit) homes clustered(ˈkləstərd) around shared space with a group of people committed to being a community — is an established(iˈstabliSHt) phenomenon(-nən,fəˈnäməˌnän) in the East Bay. Co-housing specifically for those over the age of 55 is relatively(ˈrelətivlē) new, however.

“I wanted to age in place in my community,” said Hara, who has lived in the Bay Area since 1952. “Here I have people who care about me and still have my own home, my own kitchen.”

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http://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/03/07/future-aging-senior-co-housing-communities-provide-alternatives