Valley View Senior Housing receives certificate for Green Building

The Cohousing Company is pleased to announce that our recent project in American Canyon, California, has received the designation of being ‘Green Point Rated’ for its environmentally conscious design.  The certification was provided Build It Green, a membership supported non-profit that promotes healthy, energy and resource efficient homes in California.

Construction was completed on Valley View in 2019, and the community includes 70-units that house low-income residents, all over the age of 55. From the beginning, the design was intended to be as environmentally conscious as possible. Important elements include:

·       A passive heating and cooling system that includes units with double-pane windows on each side to slow heat from entering the houses

·       Thick gypsum board and concrete slabs for thermal mass, taking advantage of diurnal temperature variations

·       Cool roofs to reflect and emit heat

·       Large porch designs that include ample shading

·       Creative use of outdoor space that takes advantage of the moderate American Canyon climate

·       A solar-covered parking area that helps offset the energy consumption of the community

·       Native and drought-tolerant plants throughout the site, ensuring that watering requirements are as low as possible.

Valley View is also set up for a graywater irrigation system that will take wastewater from washing machines and repurpose it for irrigation use. This feature hasn’t been utilized yet but will in the future. They will also be receiving recycled water from the city in the future for irrigation use. Permeable surfaces are also located on the site, helping to replenish groundwater and aid in erosion and pollution control by allowing runoff to enter the underlying soil.

The rating system is administered by independent professionals who are trained and certified by Build It Green, and we’re proud to have met their high standards for sustainability! Cost control is always an important factor in our projects, and this award demonstrates that cohousing can be done in an environmentally conscious way and still be cost effective.

Is Communal Living A Better Option For Seniors To Have An Active Lifestyle?

By Guest Blogger, Jordan Fuller

Photo by Garry Knight

As we age, nothing is more important than taking care of our health. Now, that doesn’t mean we should only focus on our physical health. As the cliche goes, we must care for our mind, body, and soul to fully enjoy life as a senior. 

But for most seniors, finding the best way to live could be the biggest boost to their overall health and life satisfaction. When faced with the choice of living alone or inside a communal environment or cohousing, it is vital to understand that experiencing life with others can lead to more happiness, a more active brain, and better nutrition.

Why Should I Live in a Community?

A study produced by the New England Journal of Medicine in 2010 found that individuals who continue to participate in social activities with friends and families as they get older show higher retention of cognitive abilities.

 The type of programs, routinely found in senior living communities, allow residents to stay active. It is helping them to preserve a higher quality of life that keeps the mind sharp and the body active. There are some helpful activities such as playing golf, swimming, exercising, etc. that keep the seniors' lifestyle active.

There are several benefits to living in a senior community worth highlighting.

The first is the assortment of programs that are available to residents. The programs are designed to keep the individual active in a communal setting that encourages interaction with others. Even if you suffer from mobility or cognitive issues, the programs are built to be accommodating to everyone.

Another benefit of living in a communal environment is the opportunity to give back to other populations through volunteering. From reading to creating crafts, to helping children or other seniors at local hospitals, volunteering can be excellent for enhancing your purpose in life.

An overlooked aspect of living close to others is how beneficial it can be for your body through improved nutrition. Seniors are vulnerable to poor eating through isolation and lack of mobility, but this can be remedied by creating a support system that actively works toward creating balanced nutrition for the community.

The community exists to help everyone increase the quality of their own lives. Through enjoyable social interaction such as working out together and enhanced nutrition, individuals living in a senior community find a focus that improves their quality of life.

Why is Living in a Community Better than Isolation?

Isolation for seniors can contribute to a lack of social interaction that leads to depression and a drop in life satisfaction. If you are facing issues such as limited transportation, health issues, family and friends that live far away or the sudden loss of loved ones, living in a community can help alleviate significant burdens allowing you to concentrate on finding fulfilling experiences in a social setting.

Even if you prefer to live alone for privacy purposes, living within a senior community can provide a balance of individual engagement coupled with a collection of loving, like-minded people looking to support each other to create the best life possible.

Fighting loneliness and isolation is crucial for renewing your purpose in life as well as dramatically helping you maintain your independence as you get older, this is why community living is so appealing to seniors.

About the Author

Jordan Fuller is a golf coach and owns a golf publication site knows as https://www.golfinfluence.com. He got his passion for golf when he was a kid during the days when his parents bring him along to their play. He loves to teach amateurs, especially seniors, who needed to have an active lifestyle. https://www.facebook.com/golfinfluence/.

Jordan Fuller

Why Cohousing is Beneficial for Older Adults

Guest blogger Elise Morgan offers her thoughts on the value of cohousing, with a special focus on senior cohousing benefits.

Sharing the rent when in college or just starting out in your career is not uncommon. The lure of better accommodation and a shared responsibility for expenses is often the main driver for students to enter this kind of living arrangement. But what about the older generation? Many retirees are now considering cohousing for a wide range of reasons, not least of all the health benefits it can deliver. Below we take a look at why cohousing is beneficial for older adults.

Village Hearth Senior Cohousing residents in Durham, North Carolina enjoy a community dinner together.

The benefits of cohousing for seniors

Cohousing isn’t just about cutting down on expenses, although that can certainly help when we retire and are learning to live off our investments or a lower pension income. The myriad benefits of this arrangement are becoming more widely recognized in America and not before time either.

In many other cultures, the older generation is cared for by the younger; making multigenerational homes more common. This works to support the health and wellbeing of seniors. In our western culture, this is less common and could be a contributing factor to the growing health concern for America – loneliness. 

Loneliness has been shown to contribute to poor health, increasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes, depression, anxiety and a host of other physical and mental illnesses. Cohousing provides the perfect antidote to loneliness – giving seniors a community of people who share spaces, look after one another and genuinely care about their neighbors..

Many senior cohousing communities provide for the activities residents design into the community. Shown here, active gardeners in Mountain View Senior Cohousing, California.

Freedom, independence and support

In senior cohousing communities, everyone becomes a caregiver, and receiver. Unlike an assisted living care home, there is no round the clock care. Instead, cohousing communities rely on a system of codependency. If someone can’t make it to the shop for groceries, another can take care of this. Similarly, if someone is heading away on holiday and needs a neighbor to watch their place another member of the community can do this and even ensure pets and gardens are looked after. These caring communities provide both support and freedom to the individuals within them.

 The peace of mind and companionship provided to each member of the community is both an emotional benefit and one that aids physical health too. The meaningful relationships that are a necessity for cohousing communities to work provide the best solution to the health problems associated with loneliness. Community members still have the freedom they imagined for their retirement years without the isolation and higher risk of health issues that were unlikely to be part of their plans.

Cohousing arrangements have democratic decision making processes in place of hierarchical ones, meaning that each member of the community is encouraged to vote on how the spaces are managed. Community activities, additions to amenities, and care-taking duties are just a few of the areas where voting may be required. Activities that help build social capital are also common - pot luck dinners, movie nights and parties all provide opportunities for residents to get together socially and build friendships.

Cohousing offers as much privacy as you want, with as much interaction as you want.

Each individual within a cohousing situation still has their own personal space. These spaces can be decorated to an individual’s tastes and provide the necessary space for quiet activities or time alone. Home decor decisions, choices of furniture such as seating, bedroom furniture and mattresses that match their comfort needs are theirs alone. However, good cohousing communities ensure both personal and communal areas incorporate universal design concepts throughout all areas of a cohousing complex to support their aging habitants and some level of co-care for residents.

Although cohousing is still a relatively new trend in America, over 160 cohousing communities exist and a further 130 are being developed. For seniors looking to downsize and improve their health in their later years, cohousing is a lifestyle choice worth considering.

About the Contributor

Elise Morgan is a freelance writer from North Carolina who loves writing about realty, home design, and contemporary new ways to incorporate sustainability in our everyday lives. In her free time, she enjoys practicing yoga, and trying out new hole-in-the-wall restaurants around town.