But Durrett is clear: the biggest benefit of cohousing is that it offers community in an age of separation, when much of America suffers from loneliness and subsequent depression, often dangerously staved off with opioids. This is particularly true for seniors, the fastest rising segment of the cohousing population in the US. Many senior co-housing communities are now being built. We visited one such community, Wolf Creek Lodge in neighboring Grass Valley, California. Like many cohousing villages, it has about 60 residents, but all are getting along in years.
SENIOR COHOUSING
When we were there, two couples were competing against each other in a lively game of petanque, a French sport much like bocce ball. Their neighbors sat on the steps of the common house, cheering them on. Durrett says seniors encourage each other to be active; in such communities it’s easy to find a partner to go walking with. It keeps everybody younger, and regular social contact with other residents provides an antidote for the chronic loneliness that a recent study showed 40 percent of senior Americans suffering from. Wolf Creek Lodge is an apartment-style complex with two wings radiating in a V from the common house. Every home has a porch where residents can look out at the neighbors, who they all know well, and shout out, “Hey, do you want to visit?”
Jacque Bromm, a youthful looking woman who loves to travel, showed us her beautiful apartment (more like a condo, since she owns it) filled with memorabilia from her trips. Books about John Muir and the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains lay on her coffee table. Jacque loves the sense of community at Wolf Creek, but also the opportunity to travel knowing that neighbors will watch her home. Her friend, Casey Travis, a painter, uses her equally lovely apartment as a studio as well as a home. She says she gets lots of support for her artwork from other residents, who have many special talents of their own to share.
Wolf Creek residents are giving back to the town of Grass Valley, helping its parks’ department construct a trail down to and along the nearby burbling creek. We walked down 200 steep steps to the creek with Bob Branstrom, a resident and project leader. Eventually, switchbacks and pavement will make the trail accessible to all of the seniors in the community, even those in wheelchairs.
Wolf Creek Lodge senior cohousing: by Charles Durrett