More innovative senior housing ideas: co-ops

Earlier I wrote about co-housing because a half dozen or so people who attended the Expanding Housing Options Summit have expressed interest in that idea for senior housing.

Housing co-operatives are another idea that’s popping in senior housing. People sometimes confuse co-ops with co-housing. Basically, co-operative housing refers to a specific form of financial structure and group decision-making. However, co-ops don’t usually form around a specific central idea such as environmental sensitivity and deep community the way co-housing does.

The biggest argument for co-ops is affordability: ”Lower down payment, much lower closing costs, economies of scale, longer mortgage term all make co-ops more affordable than other ownership housing.”

Wisconsin has two senior co-ops Wisconsin has two senior co-ops listed in the Cooperative Development Foundation.

For seniors, a notable benefit of co-ops is the ability to purchase extended services as a group—housekeeping, transportation, other long term care needs.

Wisconsin has two senior co-ops listed in the Senior Cooperative Foundation website: Realife Cooperative of Eau Claire and Homestead Cooperative of Mount Horeb. I know that a group in Waukesha has been looking into developing a “55 and better” co-op with the Realife group.

You’ll find some invaluable reports at the Cooperative Development Services Senior Co-op Housing site and the Cooperative Development Foundation.

Here’s a nice table that compares co-ops to rentals, condos, and home ownership.

The co-op model has been big in New York city for a long time. There, it’s for the rich and famous (John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in a co-op) as well as the not so rich and sort of obscure. I’m not sure why there’s not more of it around here, but it seems that the financial structuring is a little tricky. I’m hoping one of you who knows more about co-ops will write back.

In any event, it’s exciting to have so many more ideas on the table!