I love the concept but am concerned about the seeming lack of consideration for JEDI especially in an area as personal and vital as housing and community as well as given the historical tragedy of redlining. I'm a new reader and was surprised no one commented on it last week, so I thought I'd speak up. Looking through the Radish case and other cases on LNF, the groups seem pretty homogeneous in terms of race and I'm assuming SES, even if some are owning while others are renting. The difference in rents by neighborhood can vary drastically. Overall, I'm concerned their efforts might lead to more pronounced segregation and gentrification in the built environment.
I also love the tips and wonder if readers have ideas of ones that would be replicable across the country. As a QTPOC, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this in some parts of the country, and others with other identities might feel similarly. I'm fortunate to be based in SF but we have a dismal housing record. Many of my friends who wanted to start families have left, but I have experienced the joy of living near friends organically.
thanks for your thoughtful comment! i do see some potential positive forces of communal living efforts on gentrification: first, that the biggest barriers to co-housing are the same NIMBY zoning laws that prevent multifamily zoning. and second, that a befriending neighbors / beneighboring friends mentality can reduce city dweller's alienation from their local ecosystem / ecology which can lead them to take more care with their community and surroundings (perhaps this last one is too optimistic, but it feels true personally). i of course also see your point that depending on their execution and location these efforts can also lead to more homogeneity and segregation. I noticed the overwhelming whiteness of the LNF case studies as well. could have something to do with the personal networks of the people who run it, and also i'm sure part of it has to do with how extraordinarily expensive it is to start some of these communities: many of the examples had a single family buying multiple homes and the inviting friends to move into them (again, something that better zoning laws could ease).
i'm definitely no housing economics expert, so curious to hear what others feel. and would also be very interested to hear answers to your question about scripts that would be replicable in other contexts!
this is a really interesting question to me…if attempts at intentional living and co-living and assembling friends in a neighborhood increase inequality or segregation, and especially if they do so MORE than normal market/economic forces (as you said, “more pronounced segregation and gentrification in the built environment”)
part of me thinks that SES is inevitably homogenous when it comes to housing. I live in San Francisco right now too, and have a semi-ideal setup (lots of friends within walking distance, lots of people to make spontaneous day-of plans or week-of plans). but everyone I see regularly is (mostly) speaking in the same socioeconomic class as me, because we all need to be able to afford the same rent. it’s more varied when I consider friends in the east bay, since it seems there’s a greater range of rent costs + I’m no longer filtering friends by “who can afford the same neighborhood as me” vs “who can afford one of several neighbourhoods.” also—a close friend of mine lives in Pittsburgh, though, and their social circle is much more varied—perhaps because housing there is cheaper?
one thing I find fascinating about London is how you’ll see council housing in all neighborhoods—the wealthiest neighborhoods will still have an area of publicly funded housing, right next to the extremely $$$ private housing. I don’t want to simplify an extremely complex setup which has its own inequalities too—but the ability for a neighborhood to sustain a diverse range of incomes and bring all those people in one place seems essential in solving the problem you raise, where people in the same neighborhood MUST have the same means (and therefore local friends must always be “like you” in certain SES respects)
but I personally see that as more of a policy/building issue than someone individual people can affect? many co-living groups (the ones that don’t have the funds to buy/develop property) don’t seem to be directly creating/affecting property value and rent prices so much as working within the market and trying to influence their social circles to make certain market-constrained choices
love that you shared specific templates for how you’ve reached out to people and gotten to know your neighbours! my ideal ideal life is one with a lot of neighborhood friends that I can run into spontaneously and make last minute plans with sometimes (a friend of mine has noted that the effort of coordinating time to meet should never be greater than the joy of meeting, otherwise a new friendship dies off quickly!) and it’s interesting to figure out how to intentionally engineer that
in general, I’ve started to feel that everyone I know with a satisfying social life puts a LOT of energy into reaching out, planning events, trying intentionally to incorporate other people into their lives—and it seems especially important to have that intentionality as people couple up, have kids, &c. for me and my girlfriend, it’s especially important to have a life that is not purely based around the very normative heterosexual nuclear family setup, but one where other people are near-family and are very much present in everyday life! so I’m fascinated especially by multi-family setups and people choosing to live with close friends as well, not just a partner + kids
totally agreed! i’ve found that finding a partner and having kids makes all of this even more of an uphill battle. even if it doesn’t change your own desire for non nuclear family community, it changes how others accept or relate to that desire (this is definitely slightly less true with our queer community, but still present)
Thank you for sharing this! I've been meaning to get to know my neighbors in the 6-story walkup I moved into and thought a Whatsapp group would a be good start.. but I haven't tried to make it happen yet. Seeing this plan come to life for you is a great motivator, it's time to start building a community 🙌
Love the templates – thanks for sharing them. My partner and I are moving into a new apartment building next year and we’re both keen to get involved in the community building side of life there. This will come in handy.
I love this so much, just returned to it after moving into a new building. Any tips on introductions in new apartment building/city? Idk if I’d start right away with WhatsApp group, so just wondering what people like to do aside from just like baking cookies and going door to door?
I love the concept but am concerned about the seeming lack of consideration for JEDI especially in an area as personal and vital as housing and community as well as given the historical tragedy of redlining. I'm a new reader and was surprised no one commented on it last week, so I thought I'd speak up. Looking through the Radish case and other cases on LNF, the groups seem pretty homogeneous in terms of race and I'm assuming SES, even if some are owning while others are renting. The difference in rents by neighborhood can vary drastically. Overall, I'm concerned their efforts might lead to more pronounced segregation and gentrification in the built environment.
I also love the tips and wonder if readers have ideas of ones that would be replicable across the country. As a QTPOC, I wouldn't feel comfortable doing this in some parts of the country, and others with other identities might feel similarly. I'm fortunate to be based in SF but we have a dismal housing record. Many of my friends who wanted to start families have left, but I have experienced the joy of living near friends organically.
thanks for your thoughtful comment! i do see some potential positive forces of communal living efforts on gentrification: first, that the biggest barriers to co-housing are the same NIMBY zoning laws that prevent multifamily zoning. and second, that a befriending neighbors / beneighboring friends mentality can reduce city dweller's alienation from their local ecosystem / ecology which can lead them to take more care with their community and surroundings (perhaps this last one is too optimistic, but it feels true personally). i of course also see your point that depending on their execution and location these efforts can also lead to more homogeneity and segregation. I noticed the overwhelming whiteness of the LNF case studies as well. could have something to do with the personal networks of the people who run it, and also i'm sure part of it has to do with how extraordinarily expensive it is to start some of these communities: many of the examples had a single family buying multiple homes and the inviting friends to move into them (again, something that better zoning laws could ease).
i'm definitely no housing economics expert, so curious to hear what others feel. and would also be very interested to hear answers to your question about scripts that would be replicable in other contexts!
this is a really interesting question to me…if attempts at intentional living and co-living and assembling friends in a neighborhood increase inequality or segregation, and especially if they do so MORE than normal market/economic forces (as you said, “more pronounced segregation and gentrification in the built environment”)
part of me thinks that SES is inevitably homogenous when it comes to housing. I live in San Francisco right now too, and have a semi-ideal setup (lots of friends within walking distance, lots of people to make spontaneous day-of plans or week-of plans). but everyone I see regularly is (mostly) speaking in the same socioeconomic class as me, because we all need to be able to afford the same rent. it’s more varied when I consider friends in the east bay, since it seems there’s a greater range of rent costs + I’m no longer filtering friends by “who can afford the same neighborhood as me” vs “who can afford one of several neighbourhoods.” also—a close friend of mine lives in Pittsburgh, though, and their social circle is much more varied—perhaps because housing there is cheaper?
one thing I find fascinating about London is how you’ll see council housing in all neighborhoods—the wealthiest neighborhoods will still have an area of publicly funded housing, right next to the extremely $$$ private housing. I don’t want to simplify an extremely complex setup which has its own inequalities too—but the ability for a neighborhood to sustain a diverse range of incomes and bring all those people in one place seems essential in solving the problem you raise, where people in the same neighborhood MUST have the same means (and therefore local friends must always be “like you” in certain SES respects)
but I personally see that as more of a policy/building issue than someone individual people can affect? many co-living groups (the ones that don’t have the funds to buy/develop property) don’t seem to be directly creating/affecting property value and rent prices so much as working within the market and trying to influence their social circles to make certain market-constrained choices
love that you shared specific templates for how you’ve reached out to people and gotten to know your neighbours! my ideal ideal life is one with a lot of neighborhood friends that I can run into spontaneously and make last minute plans with sometimes (a friend of mine has noted that the effort of coordinating time to meet should never be greater than the joy of meeting, otherwise a new friendship dies off quickly!) and it’s interesting to figure out how to intentionally engineer that
in general, I’ve started to feel that everyone I know with a satisfying social life puts a LOT of energy into reaching out, planning events, trying intentionally to incorporate other people into their lives—and it seems especially important to have that intentionality as people couple up, have kids, &c. for me and my girlfriend, it’s especially important to have a life that is not purely based around the very normative heterosexual nuclear family setup, but one where other people are near-family and are very much present in everyday life! so I’m fascinated especially by multi-family setups and people choosing to live with close friends as well, not just a partner + kids
totally agreed! i’ve found that finding a partner and having kids makes all of this even more of an uphill battle. even if it doesn’t change your own desire for non nuclear family community, it changes how others accept or relate to that desire (this is definitely slightly less true with our queer community, but still present)
Thank you for sharing this! I've been meaning to get to know my neighbors in the 6-story walkup I moved into and thought a Whatsapp group would a be good start.. but I haven't tried to make it happen yet. Seeing this plan come to life for you is a great motivator, it's time to start building a community 🙌
Love the templates – thanks for sharing them. My partner and I are moving into a new apartment building next year and we’re both keen to get involved in the community building side of life there. This will come in handy.
Thanks for all the helpful templates!
I love this so much, just returned to it after moving into a new building. Any tips on introductions in new apartment building/city? Idk if I’d start right away with WhatsApp group, so just wondering what people like to do aside from just like baking cookies and going door to door?