When I tell people I live in a collective house, I feel I'm only scratching the surface. People usually have an idea of what it means, but few people have a full understanding (myself included--which is why I am starting this blog and writing down all the details!) Often people have the idea that I live in some sort of '70s hippie commune. While there are probably similarities, collective living in the modern sense is a different species. I would like to dispell the theories that I live in a house of drugs and rock 'n roll by attempting to define what a collective house is.
I am part of a listserve on Yahoo Groups called the Vancouver Collective House Network. It is exactly what it sounds like. It connects people living in various collective houses, as well as people who wish to live in collective houses, across the city of Vancouver. It informs people of room openings, potlucks, meetings, and all the rest of it. It's fantastic, end of story. It's how I found out about my house.
At the bottom of each email I get from the VCHN, there is a very official looking 'definition' of a collective house. This is what it says:
"Collective houses are one option on the spectrum of long-term shared living, a spectrum that also includes co-housing, coop apartments, and other shared land models. Unlike in co-housing and coop models, a collective house is a home where people - ranging from families with children to single adults - share personal living space and daily lives with housemates. Collective house members usually share food and shopping, nightly house dinners, social areas of the house, some amount of money (how much varies by house), and shared values, which also vary from house to house. Most houses in the Vancouver Collective House Network are centered around variations on social and/or environmental justice. Rather than just temorarily sharing space as roommates, collective living is often a long term life choice for those who prefer to live collectively for ecological, social, and other ethical reasons. Stronger social networks in our homes and between the collective houses in Vancouver results in: greater economic independence from market systems; lighter ecological impact due to better sharing of resources; improved skills for conflict resolution and collaborative decision-making; and stronger individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities."
Weeeyooooo. Still with me? Well, that basically says it all. Or most of it. What a collective house is defined as totally varies from house to house, but that definition gives a great overall picture. Some of the things that stand out for me are:
- Sharing food (with this one also comes a sharing of food values- I'll get to that later)
- Nightly house dinners
- Greater independence from market systems
- Lighter environmental impact
- Stronger individuals, neighbourhoods and communities
and I would add...
- Fostering meaningful connections and relationships, with oneself and others
The first ones I mentioned are really the main reasons a lot of people want to live collectively. It's beyond just wanting to live with roommates, and it is totally different. Living in community with others, and sharing things with others, creates a lifestyle that is meaningful, efficient and sustainable. By living with others who share similar values, you are able to live by your own values with much greater ease. Recently I adopted a vegan diet, for example, after being vegetarian for about a year and a half- but it is really due to the support of my house that I feel absolutely no anxiety around this switch.
Sharing food with other people in the house saves, well, food. If you have six people each cooking for themselves you may have an overabundance of food in the fridge, a lot of which will likely go to waste. It also saves money. But the issues around food in a collective house are the topic of another blog post- there is just way too much to say!
Living collectively creates a much lighter impact on the environment, for a number of reasons. Well, first of all, most people who want to live collectively often tend to think about their environmental impact, so living with others who feel the same way strengthens their desire and gumption to do so. The systems that are created by collective living-- from food sharing to gardening to grey water -- are all in an attempt to lessen our impact on the environment.
Then there is also the benefit of "many hands make light work". Each person in my house has between 3-5 chores. So instead of doing everything by yourself, you do your part and everyone else does theirs. By lessening the work load around the house for yourself, everyone is able to focus more on the way the house chooses to live.
And finally, I will leave you with another quote that I absolutely love. It relates to the last point I wrote, which is that collective living fosters meaningful connections and relationships, with oneself and others.
I found this quote hanging on the door to the backyard of my house, on a recycled piece of pink paper. It reads:
A definition of community:
"The coming together of a group of individuals who have learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant commitment to rejoice together, mourn together, and to delight in each other and make the conditions of others our own"
-M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace
Collective living is more than living. It helps you to live truly how you would like to, and to really relate and connect with other people and with yourself.
Welcome to the world of collective living. The door is wide open.
-Lisi
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