Using Co-Op Bedrooms to Build Strong Families
Living Well in Big Multi-Generational Homes
Families of choice form around shared values and struggles. They form on missions, often overcoming obstacles, while working alongside partners.
Young women often delay pregnancy to pursue education and achieve independence, developing the specialized skills necessary in today's urbanized and multifaceted society. They especially need the support, advice, and direction of elders. Living only with peers or one partner can delay child-rearing and make it more expensive, limiting the ability to love generously and unconditionally.
The experience and resources of elders are invaluable for the self-realization of the young.
Why? How?
For millions of years, we had bigger multi-generational families built on shared values and responsibilities, collaborative self-defense, and peak experiences. Convention has dictated today’s housing supply, a fad for two-parent homes that our great-great-grandparents and great-grandparents would have found too small.
Frequent verbal communication is critical, especially for children who must hear thirty to forty thousand words daily. As they transition into adolescence, they need other adults to reinforce their lessons and provide inspirational examples of adult behavior.
A resilient household and a reliable foundation need at least six adults, and they want strategically planned architecture and design.
Valuable estates and chattels received upon death tend to lead to strife amongst the heirs, so it is sensible for seniors to distribute their assets while living.
By downsizing, seniors can benefit from having younger friends and quasi-adopted children.
Corporate-run retirement housing is not a good investment and tends to be isolating. Nursing homes cause dying to occur in isolation, which can be a lost opportunity to pass along the most important insights into life. Death serves as a reminder to the young to love and live fully.
MARKET CHARACTERISTICS
0+ who need a broad, deep base of support
18+ who want to build equity one-half bedroom at a time
30s+ who want an efficient and prosperous home for their kids
60s+ who enjoy mentoring, and can help their kids by downsizing
70s+ who enjoy spending part of their days with children
80s+ who want to keep on living and giving
Goals
URBAN
Transform office buildings to host start-ups and form tribes
Transform apartment buildings to become homes for forming families with rent-to-own studios and bedrooms on floors with shared living space
SUBURBAN
Obtain variances and update suburban zoning to allow building across lot lines
Starting with a tear-down, build the lively core with a first floor able to support incremental floors; acquire surrounding lots, then build up
Add bedrooms and outdoor space by obtaining the surrounding lots
FINANCING
All accommodations are rent-to-own co-ops. Therefore, we need development financing that will extend for an additional year or two.