Considering communal living as a senior, in the future.
Pondering this earlier thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025533472
at our little organic/local food coop, I was considering what elements would be important to me in selecting a different community to live in, should I ever leave my lifelong home in Hawaii. What are the things that make home, home?
At which moment a local musician came up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and a 'aloha Auntie'. My heart clenched up.
Anyway...
I'd need some kind of a live music scene, even if it's only garage blues and bluegrass. I'd need some kind of a decent bookstore, used is ok, or at least a good library.
I'd definitely need somewhere that the aquifers were healthy and not threatened by climate change in the next generation or so.
Local farms nearby would be a must have too. We have that here!
A university or some kind of higher education endeavor that brings culture, workshops, seminars, and other kinds of intellectual stimuli would be a need for me.
I'd like it to be a friendly place but not a place that your neighbors walk right in. When we lived in Boston for a few years for school, we were still 'the new people' a few years in. Arms length doesn't really express it. I don't think suburbia as such is my cup of tea…urban or semi rural would be more comfortable for me I think.
A YMCA or YWCA would be needed, with a pool, or a nearby clean and swimmable ocean, which I would prefer.
Most of all, a way to chip in, to help others, kids, old folks, everybody, so I would not be isolated.
How about you? Have you given much thought to moving in your 2nd half- century? What would you look for?
If any of you good people think about a DU commune, drop me a note. I'll be on the jury 
A few interesting links follow. Aloha all you old futs, and younger ones too. Peace to you.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2013/06/29/the-retirement-commune-housing-new-direction-for-baby-boomers/VO4KkbSUMv8JmcydfuuaHJ/story.html
"Few of America’s 78 million 49- to 67-year-olds have any intention of aging the way their parents have, wedded to their independence at all costs, even if it ultimately means social isolation. Plenty of older people are moving in with their boomer children, but many others don’t want to be a burden — for them, the plan is to stay home until they can’t anymore.
But not the baby boomers, who can envision all sorts of alternate living arrangements. “To [the older generation], living alone is the only measure of success, but the boomers’ comfort with interdependence means there are many options,” says Dr. Bill Thomas, an influential geriatrician and author based in New York. “Aging in community, rather than all alone, is going to make the boomers’ experience of old age different than anything that ever came before.”
It may be time to start calling the “Me Generation” the “We Generation.”
http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/how-baby-boomers-are-changing-retirement-living/
http://www.ted.com/conversations/18605/proposing_elderly_communal_hou.htmlProposing elderly communal housing; i.e. private residence with central/shared kitchen and living rooms with private bed and bathrooms.
For the elderly who don't want as "assisted care" fascility and don't have family, yet need some form of community life. Perhaps with a live-in assistant to help drive to Dr. appointments, hairdressers , marketing etc. and otherwise help. The elderly would basically help each other and remain social and somewhat independent. I hear it's the latest rage at colleges these days. Question: why are so few of these being built in the US? Money?
= new reply since forum marked as read
The personal dynamics would be infinitely variable, so the residents would ideally be trained in community action, or interested in learning how to organize together. Difference being, rather than a top-down, money-sucking corporation that provides housing and a very low paid nurse's aide on shifts, a better alternative would be organized, governed, and owned by the residents. I'm for it.
Does it go without saying that the residents would be progressive? No gun nuts, no Fox news. When we run the world
And have long concluded that some kind of cooperative living makes sense. I used to joke that my retirement plan had only two viable options: a nunnery or a Canadian women's prison (which are bit more civil than the American ones.) Both options, of course, have their pluses and minuses.
But at some point, I came across this website and occasionally check in there. You might find it useful:
http://www.ic.org/
Good luck!