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Then in 1988 she paired up with David Mandel, who had once lived on an Israeli kibbutz and shared her longing for the collective lifestyle. That same year the two attended a slide show by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett. The Berkeley, Calif., architects are the principal American evangelists for cohousing--a type of intentional community in which buildings are designed to encourage social contact while preserving private space. "You have the choice between privacy and community," Durrett says. "It's a 21st century housing solution." Instant converts Scott, Mandel and a few dozen like-minded families set about designing the ideal community.
Five years later, they got their dream, the 25-unit Southside Park Cohousing. Front porches on the neo-Victorians look out on the surrounding community. Inside, kitchen windows and plate-glass back doors face one another over the common green space, as if two dozen families had one huge backyard. In the central building, residents share a dining room, playroom, mailboxes, laundry room, TV, exercise equipment and a lounge with a fireplace. They take turns cooking the three common meals served each week. Afterward, they relish the opportunity to share cars, swap furniture and get together without planning it.
Children like the arrangement because they can roam freely from one friend's house to another. Parents appreciate having lots of help keeping watch, and singles enjoy the companionship. "My kids were grown up and gone," says Susan Barnhill, 57, a Mary Kay cosmetics saleswoman, as she rolls her wheelchair in the front-door of a flat especially adapted to her needs. "Here, there are instant friends."
Immediate neighbors often oppose cohousing proposals but tend to come around once the homes are built. "It's pretty cool," says Ken Tate, 40, who lives across the street from Southside Park. "More neighborhoods should group together like that." Although drug deals go down daily on the sagging porches and litter-strewn sidewalks that surround Southside, no one has ever broken into one of its houses. There are too many watchful eyes.
So far, cohousing construction hasn't kept up with demand. There are 44 projects built in the U.S. and Canada, with 160 soon to be completed and 15,000 people on a list of potential residents. Cohousing units have appreciated or held their value better than comparable homes nearby.
Building one is no cakewalk, however. Sites are difficult to acquire. Prospective residents must spend years in long meetings with architects, bureaucrats and neighborhood groups. They must be willing to put up thousands in advance for units that cost slightly more than mainstream condos. (One-bedroom Southside flats went for $87,000, though the city provided generous loans to the cash poor. Homeowners' dues range from $100 to $150 a month.) And the endless meetings continue after everyone moves in. Instead of delegating to a board of directors or voting, Southside residents, like most cohousers, make every decision by consensus. Also, gossip runs rampant. "There have been three romances in the community," says resident Pam Silva, 49. "They were great topics of conversation and entertainment."