Research on satisfaction with living environment
One question that I think is important is the level of satisfaction for people who reside in cohousing. How satisfied with their living arrangements are cohousers? I am sure there is a range, from those very satisfied, to those who are dissatisfied. On the whole, I suspect most people living in cohousing are relatively satisfied, as they chose cohousing for a variety of reasons. I would be interested in knowing on some scale developed by psychologists just how satisfied cohousers are with their communities and living in cohousing. A related area would be what areas of cohousing are most attractive and satisfying and what areas are more problemmatic. Another important research quesstion would be to compare the satisfaction level of people living in cohousing with people who do not live in cohousing. I assume one would probably want to match cohousers with people of similar social and economic background to get a better comparison.
Related pages: Cohousing Association
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A research project I'd like to see re satisfaction
Joani posted the following response:
This relates to the other side of the satisfaction question. I'd like to see someone interview a bunch of people who have moved out of cohousing communities because for one reason or another it "wasn't working" for them. (This would, of course, exclude folks who had moved out because of a job change, or because they fell in love with someone who doesn't want to live in cohousing, or someone who had to leave because they lost their job and couldn't pay their mortgage)
Several years back there were a couple of threads on coho-l about this, and some of us old-timers were describing the reasons that people we knew about had left their communities, and speculating about what other reasons people might leave for. In that thread a number of reasons for leaving surfaced that would provide a good starter list for a hypothesis as to some of the main reasons that people who leave cohousing do so.
This is obviously a quantatative one. Getting contact info for those who had left, contacting them to see if they are willing to talk, and actually doing the interviews would have to be done with a good deal of sensitivity.
Joani Blank
Why do people leave cohousing?
David Entin:
Hi Joani. Yes, I agree that part of the satisfaction survey should definitely include those who leave, and particularly those who have left because of reasons that relate to living in cohousing, as opposed to the range of reasons unrelated to the cohousing environment, several of which you list. In three years of existence we have had three families/households leave and one other announce their intension to leave. My personal theory based on my limited knowledge of these cases is that people on both extremes leave. By that I mean: either cohousing is more than they wanted or it has not lived up to their expectations. In the first case, there was more community and expectations than people wanted. In one such instance, the person said they felt guilty because they were not living up to the expectations of the community, i.e., they were not engaged and socially isolated in this community as a result. In the other extreme or situation, our cohousing did not meet the very high expectations for community that the party had. They wanted and hoped for more and became disappointed/disillusioned. I think these first few years have been a sorting out process, with people who wanted more and those who felt it was too much, decided to leave. So, maybe a middle road is best for most people; the other 24 households are staying put, at least at this moment, and many seem satisfied with our cohousing community and see the advantages of living in community.
David Entin
Social & public benefits of cohousing
Sarah Berger
UK Cohousing Network
I am trying to gather information about the social and public benefits of cohousing for use in our funding bids and negotiations with possible development partners. Clearly this is a huge area. The material on this website is excellent but I am keen to use findings from research ( as hard data as possible) if such exists.
Our community ( The community Project, Laughton, UK) has been contacted by a long stream of researchers over the years but we didnt receive the results. Do you have an archive ? Or suggestions re where to start looking?
Response to Sarah Berger
Hi Sarah,
I understand the type of data you are looking for. I was told that Graham Meltzer has done the most detailed research on cohousing to date. I am now reading his book, "Sustainable Community: Learning from the cohousing model," which is very interesting. I have not finished the book, but I don't think it has exactly the type of data you are looking for, though there is some very useful information and data in the environmental area that could help support your case. The focus of this Meltzer book seems to be on design/environment and how cohousing communities are dealing with environmental issues (becoming more sustainable and lowering their carbon footprint on the earth.) There is some employment and economic data about families in his study that I plan to put onto a blog soon on this site. This data came from his Ph.D. dissertation, which may have more data, perhaps including what you are looking for. I am also aware that Lisa Poley in Virginia has just done a dissertation on cohousing and I am eager to read this document and see what data it includes.
David Entin
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