Could collaborative living provide an answer to the housing crisis and climate change? Some people think so

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 05:48:22 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-05/collaborative-housing-could-be-an-answer-to-the-housing-crisis/100629994>

"Donna Lavell is no stranger to sharing her home with people. In her 20s, she
lived in share houses in Sydney's inner suburbs; later, after buying a home in
Newcastle, she offered up her spare rooms to friends in need, housemates and
Airbnb guests.

Now, at 61, she's decided to build a home with three women she met less than a
year ago.

"I have such a good experience of sharing spaces with people," she says. "It
just makes more sense to me."

Donna — along with her future housemates Joanne, Lisa, and Sarah — has secured
a plot of land inside Narara Ecovillage — an "intentional community" of more
than 100 people on the NSW Central Coast.

"We're all very clear that we don't want to put all our money into a house,"
Donna says, adding that she hopes to use the profits from the sale of her
current home to support her in retirement. "The advantage of extra people means
there are more people paying for the land."

And she's not alone in trying to keep costs down. After a year that saw the
fastest pace of annual growth in national property prices since 2004, more
people than ever are looking for creative ways to break into the property
market.

This is happening alongside a growing awareness of climate change, making
ecovillages and other forms of collaborative living an attractive alternative."

Share and enjoy,
               *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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