Tell me more about cohousing: Recent Episodes
Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika
Our members Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika get together Monday mornings to chat about cohousing topics. They reflect on a broad range of questions, observations, challenges and successes related to their forming cohousing community and the world around them. They are newbies to the podcasting world, refining their craft each week. Come along for the ride! They're fun and look forward to your comments. Lynn & KelliFor more information on CoHousing Houston go to www.cohousinghouston.com
Send us a message!
In Episode 20, Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead catch up on the progress CoHousing Houston has made in the last few months (hint: it's been busy!) and what the next stage will bring.
Send us a message!
In Episode 19, Rebecca Averill (one of our newest members) joinsKelli Soika and Lynn Morstead to explore the many ways that a cohousing community is architected, socially and physically, to support our lives at any stage. Between them they cover a wide range different stages of life they are experiencing today, from toddlers to teens, to empty nesting, to retirement.
Listen in to learn more and hear how this might be something for you too!
CoHousing Houston is Texas' first multigenerational cohousing community based on the values of connection and sustainability. Curious about Houston? Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 18, Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead catch everyone up on what's going on at the site and with the community in early 2026.
CoHousing Houston is Texas' first multigenerational cohousing community based on the values of connection and sustainability. Curious about Houston? Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 17, Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead explore how the work by Angela Duckworth on GRIT applies to their experience in building a new cohousing community. Listen in to hear about their journey and where these characteristics have been observed and how they have helped.
CoHousing Houston is Texas' first multigenerational cohousing community based on the values of connection and sustainability. Curious about Houston? Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 16, Kelli Soika visits with Charles Durrett, one of the founders of the cohousing movement in the United States. He has written a new book, Neuro-Inclusive Community Design: Lessons from Sólheimar Ecovillage. In this episode they talk about what successful community design looks like when it starts with the premise of neuro-inclusivity. Chuck shares insights about how individuals and families can bring projects like this together in the United States.
Chuck's book is on sale now and available from major booksellers or through The Cohousing Company. You can read reviews here.
In addition, here is the link to information about Sólheimar and a video that Chuck references in the interview.
CoHousing Houston is Texas' first multigenerational cohousing community based on the values of connection and sustainability. Curious about Houston? Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 14, Kelli Soika chats with two of CoHousing Houston's founders, Tom King and Lynn Morstead about the very earliest days of their community. Like all good cohousing tales, there's a longing for community, some serendipity, lots of work, all wrapped up in a bunch of friendship.
Curious about Houston? Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 14 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika chat with Jennie Lindberg and Norm Frampton from the forming community of Sunnyside Village Cohousing in Marysville, Washington. Listen in to hear more about their "cottage" community!
For more information or to get in touch with Jennie and Norm, please visit www.sunnysidevillagecohousing.com or you can send an email to info@sunnysidevillagecohousing.com.
Curious about Houston? Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 13 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about what it means to be a Founder of a cohousing community. They share what this means to them individually and announce the plans to interview some other members and communities about their founding stories.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 12 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika answer the questions that so many people ask us "How do you keep going after all this time?" This project has been longer than any of us anticipated. If you're wondering this about us, or working on a longer project and needing some inspiration, listen in to hear what they are doing to stay focused, motivated and energized!
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 11 Lynn Morstead interviews Kalila Zunes-Wolfe about her experiences living in two different cohousing communities from the age of one through leaving for college. Kalila shares memories of favorite activities, encountering different parenting styles, inviting friends over, launching a cohousing newspaper, Olympics and more. Tune in to learn more.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 10 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika visit with Suzy Sharp of Heartwood Commons in Tulsa, OK. Suzy is all moved in to her cohousing dream home and shares what it's like to be on "the other side" of the move in. Learn about the community activities, how the group stayed together through the stresses of moving, and hear about the three homes they have available for active adults 55+.
If you would like to learn more about Heartwood Commons, visit their website or give Suzy a call at 918-519-5298.
Heartwood Commons Tulsa: https://www.heartwoodcommonstulsa.com/
Send us a message!
In Episode 9 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika tour the Common House at CoHousing Houston. In the cool air of the community's geothermal heat exchange HVAC system, they take a look at the finishings being installed in the kitchen, dining area, and mail room.
Send us a message!
In Episode 8 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead look at Why Community Matters through a new lens inspired by one-time young podcaster, Lilian Shepard, in her debut, single recording in 2021 during the aftershocks of COVID (check out Why Community Matters).
It was fun to reflect on our generational differences and similarities as we walked through the 8 reasons why it matters. Listen in to see what your take would be.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have
Send us a message!
In Episode 7, Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika discuss how cohousing works for people who identify as introverts. It isn't all group activities and endless gatherings! Cohousers delivers all the warmth of community that introverts and extroverts alike crave.... just with less of the things introverts hate. If you like having people around but hate chit-chat, this is for you.
Send us a message!
In Episode 6, Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika discuss how the concepts of cohousing support the tenets of minimalism. They check in on Lynn's project to right-size her physical world to match her busy and active lifestyle.
Benefits of Minimalism: 21 Benefits of Owning Less
Send us a message!
In Episode 5, Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika share the change in CoHousing Houston's website to include floor plans and prices. It is a departure from the community-first approach and signals that the project is almost complete. If you're dreaming of forming a cohousing community, this episode provides insight into sales and marketing strategy.
Send us a message!
In Episode 4, Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika pick up on the word of 2025: abundance. Some people are talking about it in reference to a policy ethos, but they tap back into the idea that cohousing creates "extra space."
If you missed it, there's a great article from December, "How to be not lonely? 'Cohousing' is an answer for some people" published by NPR that covers similar points.
Send us a message!
In case you missed it, Kelli & Lynn are replaying this interview with Katie McCamant from 2024. It’s chock full of good information about cohousing as a national movement (she’d just wrapped up the national conference when it was recorded).
Katie McCamant of CoHousing Solutions is returning to Houston to come see the progress made and walk the space with the group she has advised from the very start.
As part of this visit, Katie will give a public talk on site at 4pm on Saturday, April 26th. REGISTER. Katie will speak from 4:15 to 4:45 and then we'll take a tour of the Common House and homes.
Send us a message!
In Episode 2, Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika are looking forward to the April site tour with a very important visitor. Katie McCamant is coming to town!
Katie McCamant of CoHousing Solutions is returning to Houston to come see the progress made and walk the space with the group she has advised from the very start.
As part of this visit, Katie will give a public talk on site at 4pm on Saturday, April 26th. REGISTER. Katie will speak from 4:15 to 4:45 and then we'll take a tour of the Common House and homes.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have
Send us a message!
Welcome to Season 4! We've been through the looooooong construction of buildings and are now in the finishing stages. Season 4 will accompany this community in the finishing stages through to movie in.
In Episode 1 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead introduce what's happening on site with their experience of walking through new homes in a new neighborhood.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have
Send us a message!
In Episode 61 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead cover the 5 main areas where the cohousing and coliving models for community living differ from each other. The terms are often used interchangeably in the media as these concepts are introduced into new markets, but there are key differences that interested future residents will want to understand.
In this podcast Kelli and Lynn cover these key points of distinction:
- Ownership
- Scope of private space
- Participation in decision-making
- Involvement in management of the property
- The basis for community life, aka the social contract
Listen in to see how your understanding compares with this overview.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have
Send us a message!
In Episode 60 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead review the places and activities they show out of town guests. The focus is on the aspects of Houston that dominate their experiences of living in the city: green lushness, art everywhere, walkable and bikeable, and eclectic. By the time their guests leave, they take away a completely transformed perspective on what Houston is really like.
Listen in to see how this compares with what you think about Houston.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 59 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead pose the question- if someone has read about cohousing why should they come to an Info Session?
They break down the content, the expectations, and the magic that go along with a live conversation. Listen in to hear more ... or just come to the next Open House on Feb 8!
RSVP here: https://mailchi.mp/a7b38c561972/hgao11xceq
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 58 Kelli Soika interviews Lynn Morstead and member Liz Parker about their recent visit to the grocery store in their future neighborhood. What was it like? Could they find what they wanted? Will they commit to the new one, or make the drive back to their old one after they move? Listen in to hear more ...
Come meet us at our our next Open House on Feb 8!
RSVP here: https://mailchi.mp/a7b38c561972/hgao11xceq
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 57 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika are struck by the winter doldrums... it's raining, it's grey, the days are short (even in Houston!), and the buildings aren't ready for a January move-in. What are future cohousers to do?
Come meet us at our our next Open House on Feb 8!
RSVP here: https://mailchi.mp/a7b38c561972/hgao11xceq
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
Send us a message!
In Episode 56 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the community events that took place in December and share the experiences of the year-end first ever site visit for Friends and Family, followed by a public Open House. It was so successful they are doing it again on Feb 8. Click here to sign up for that one, if you're curious: https://mailchi.mp/a7b38c561972/hgao11xceq
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In honor of our friend, Laird Schaub, a man who brought clarity to the clueless, humor to tough situations, and a path forward for those of us hoping to live in a more cooperative culture, we'd like to replay our interview from our first season.
The discussion begins with an explanation of cooperative culture and how it compares to a competitive environment and then they explore specific scenarios navigated by communities, including:
- Gathering information in a way that moves consensus forward,
- What happens when individuals listen and are heard,
- The roles of the facilitator and experienced members of the community,
- How to bring multi-modal information into a discussion,
- And more.
Rest well, Laird, and peace to all who love you.
Send us a message!
Cohousing.org, has a t-shirt campaign right now declaring Common Meals Will Save The World. In Episode 54 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika review the newly launched community dinner program at CoHousing Houston. After two Meatless Mondays, they have some ideas about what has worked and what could be tweaked. If you're in town, come check it out!
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 53 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika dream up the future neighbors they are seeking to fill the remaining spaces in their community. From toddlers, to curious 30-somethings, to the person who makes you laugh, to the person who inspires you to live more sustainably and many others. Listen in to hear how they assemble the dream team. Maybe one of them is you!?
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 52 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika are fresh off a stint at the farmers' market where they talked to tons of people about cohousing. They bring the questions people have and their answers to the recording. Truly, this is "Tell Me More About CoHousing"!
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 51 Lynn Morstead interviews HAUS Project member, Matteo Roberts, about the history of this unique Houston cooperative and his experiences in cooperative living, for the first time in his life.
The mission of the HAUS project is "to provide affordable housing operated cooperatively by residents with greener, more sustainable lifestyle options. We strive to educate the general public about cooperative organizational principles and sustainable lifestyle options, as well as assist other cooperative and sustainable efforts in the Houston region and elsewhere."
True to their mission, Matteo recently reached out to CoHousing Houston to explore synergies between our two groups. Listen in to learn more.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 50 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk a little more about one of the pieces of advice that Katie McCamant offered about living in community last week. She is a big believer in working things out with neighbors by starting with a conversation. It is often difficult for the "default" action to be having a conversation but it is so very powerful.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 49 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk to Katie McCamant of CoHousing Solutions about her experience at the 2024 National Cohousing Conference in Denver. Katie talks about the national association's ongoing interest in affordability in cohousing as well as a move to broaden the age and diversity of the cohousing concept. She mentions some interesting ideas for how to handle generational change within communities.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 48 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about recent changes in the real estate landscape and how those larger trends do or don't apply to cohousing homes.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 46 Lynn Morstead interviews long-standing member, Margie Ortega, about the unique team that she has spearheaded during our community development phase of our project. It's called the "Neighborhood Engagement" team. In this interview Margie talks about how this group was started, how she has launched the team and what her aspirations are for our cohousing project's involvement in the local neighborhood.
Margie recently wrote a piece about how the Gulf storms have affirmed her decision that cohousing is the right answer for her: How the Derecho and Beryl affirmed by faith in cohousing.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 46 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead interview Amiss Baucum, currently doing a Master's program in Urbanism and Societal Change at the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture. Amiss grew up in Louisiana in a tight community, which informs his interest in the value of connection and the importance of designing for interaction with the people living around us.
They cover a wide range of topics and perspectives from his program and experiences living in Europe, from how to accommodate population growth with repurposing of buildings to the challenges of making a new and different way of living together attractive so we can get serious about sustainable growth.
Listen in to learn more.
If you'd like to get in touch with Amiss, he can be contacted at patrickbaucum@gmail.com or @stilljustaman on Instagram.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 45 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead conduct a review of the Recommended Top 10 Agreements to have in place before moving in, and take a stab at assessing how their community is doing on this list.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 44 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead talk to a member of their community, Cate Springer, about her experience at the national cohousing conference. She's an architect who is interested in how to live differently... and she's in the middle of a journey visiting cohousing communities. Come hear about the conference and her experiences!
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 43 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead discuss how cohousing communities address individuals' desire to change their homes within the context of shared walls and shared interests. Hint: it's pretty different from how a standard HOA handles it.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 42 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead catch up and talk about the 2024 Olympics. How does it relate to cohousing? Tune in and find out!
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 41 Kelli Soika visits with Suzy Sharp a founding member of Heartwood Commons a new 55+ cohousing community in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Suzy talks about her community which is getting ready for move in soon. If you're curious about communities around the US, listen in and learn about Heartwood Commons.
Suzy mentions that Heartwood Commons will hold an information session on Tuesday, August 20 at 6:30 pm on Zoom.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 40 Lynn Morstead interviews Kim Meyer, one of our newest cohousing community members about her path to community.
An author, university English professor and most recently the founder of a community farm, Lynn invites Kim to describe her journey from writer to farmer, to cohousing and explore how they all overlap.
In her most recent book, Accidental Sisters: Refugee Women Struggling Together for a New American Dream, Kim describes her journey with five refugee women in Houston, Texas, as they navigate a program for single mothers overseen by Alia Altikrity, a former refugee from Iraq. Alia's guiding philosophy is that small, direct, meaningful acts of mutual care are the foundation for a flourishing community.Kim says in her introduction, “I don’t know how to fix the systemic problem. But I believe that an answer has something to do with each of us making our small spheres more like the sisterhoods of the women with whom I spent the year documented here” .
This resonates strongly with cohousing communities everywhere. Listen in to hear more.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
Send us a message!
In Episode 39 Kelli Soika interviews Caleb Parker, a young adult who has lived in both a co-op in Texas and an intentional community in New York City. They talk about the structure of the two communities and his insights into how the environment creates a sense of community.
Caleb is CoHousing Houston member, Liz Parker's, son. Check out our conversation with her about the Power of Invitation.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
Send us a message!
In Episode 38 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about what happened in Houston this past week when hurricane Beryl came roaring into town. How they prepared for it, how they rode out the storm and what the response was in their respective neighborhoods. They wrap it up with thoughts on how they will respond to the next one and what their take-aways are for moving into cohousing later this year.
For more information about CoHousing Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 37 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika discuss one of the ways community is built: through the regular (and sometimes tedious!) practice of just showing up. The value of returning to a group of people and committing to building a relationship is the foundation for the sense of community that often comes later.
For more information about community dinners coming soon to cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 36 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Claudia Stephens about her experience cooking for a crowd as a volunteer chef at one of the many waystations on the Camino de Santiago. She has an amazing tale of hospitality and organization that is inspiring and relates well to the experience of community dinners.
For more information about community dinners coming soon to cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 35 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika review A Consensus Handbook published by Seeds for Change.
A Consensus Handbook explains the spirit and philosophy of co-operative decision making as well as providing practical guidance on how to facilitate a consensus process. This comprehensive guide looks at common situations and explain the skills and tools your group can use to ease the path to a decision. This book covers techniques for decision-making in small and large groups as well as virtual meetings.
If you would like to get your own copy of this book, go meet some cohousers and see if they'll pass one along... or follow this link.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 34 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika give their personal expansions on the "Ten Lessons in Neighborliness From a Cohousing Community" by Courtney Martin, published in the Berkley Greater Good magazine.
We've been featuring posts on these 10 the past couple of weeks on our Facebook page. Check these out here to get a visual and more details from the article. Start with #1 "Sharing unlocks abundance" herefrom May 29, 2024 and work your way up to #10 "Intergenerational neighborliness is a win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win-win" here.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Send us a message!
In Episode 33 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika delve further into the stack of cohousing books they've accumulated over the years and review what's useful and why you might want to check out a cohousing book. In this episode, they review The Cooperative Handbook, a book written by Yana Ludwig and Karen Gimnig.
If you would like to get your own copy of this book, go meet some cohousers and see if they'll pass one along... or follow this link.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 32 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika delve into the stack of cohousing books they've accumulated over the years and review what's useful and why you might want to check out a cohousing book. In this episode, they review Head, Heart & Hands Lessons in Community Building, a book written by Shari Leach (Jim Leach's daughter.... Jim from Episode 73: Building A Custom Neighborhood).
If you would like to get your own copy of this book, go meet some cohousers and see if they'll pass one along... or follow this link.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 31 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika share some poetry!
The poems have something to do with cohousing, but really, it's an excuse to stop and share some poems.
Poems mentioned:
On Work by Kahlil GibranGate A-4 by Naomi Shihab NyePied Beauty by Gerard Manley HopkinsThe Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Planting Your Spring Garden, author unknown
For the Garden of Your Daily Living
Plant Three Rows of peas
1. Peace of Mind
2. Peace of Heart
3. Peace of Soul
Plant Four Rows of Squash
1. Squash Gossip
2. Squash Indifference
3. Squash Grumbling
4. Squash Selfishness
Plant Four Rows of Lettuce
1. Lettuce be Faithful
2. Lettuce Be Kind
3. Lettuce Be patient
4. Lettuce Really Love One Another
No Garden is Complete Without Turnips
1. Turnip for Meetings
2. Turnip for Service
3. Turnip to Help One Another
To Conclude our Garden we Must Have Thyme
1. Thyme for Each Other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for Friends
Water Freely with patience and Cultivate with Love. There is Much Fruit In Your Garden Because You Reap What You Sow.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 29 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika interview Tom King, the originator of the Houston cohousing group. Tom's path to cohousing has a dimension that we haven’t explored much, the spiritual aspect of the path to cohousing. He's part of a cross-cultural mediation community that brought him in contact with the idea of cohousing and that living in community is a spiritual gift.
Listen in to learn more about his journey.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 29 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika replay the 2022 story of the mystery old safe that was left behind in the tear-down building on the property. Before the bulldozers knocked it down a spirit of curiosity blew through the community that lead to collective initiative to get it cracked and opened. Join the fun ride through their efforts to raise the money to open it and all the plans they had for spending the treasure that surely must be locked inside.
After you've listened, you can come back here and watch the moment of the Big Reveal. Spoiler alert in case you're tempted to click before listening!
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 28 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika interview Anna Barr, a writer and graduate student at the University of Houston. They talk about Anna's experience living in a co-op during her undergraduate years and how community informs her outlook on the creative life. Anna brings her community building and narrative skills to teaching as well: she leads creative writing workshops at Inprint.
If you'd like to learn more about Anna's classes, check out the Inprint schedule of workshops and events.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 27 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika interview Susan Lieberman, a woman who builds community wherever she goes.... and she's been lots of places! She has "lived in nine cities, written eight books, directed four educational programs, earned three graduate degrees, raised two sons and thinks, one day, she may, perhaps, acquire a partridge in a pear tree". So she knows something about creating connections.
The unifying theme in all her work has been a desire to help people find satisfying resolutions to the situations that arise from leading busy, complicated lives and to grow into their best selves.
If you'd like to learn more about Susan, check out her website. Or buy her new book, In the Country of Old: Nine reflections from a new immigrant to the Country of Old.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 26 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika "walk through" the physical space of CoHousing Houston with the assistance of the group's new final design fly-through. To follow along while listening to the podcast, check out the video HERE.
If you'd like to see a narrated version of the fly through prepared by our archictecht, Kathleen English, check out THIS version. For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 25 Steve Stelzer, Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika join the Open Journal team at KPFT, Houston's Community Radio station to explain about this new cohousing project coming to town. CoHousing Houston is the first cohousing built in all of Texas.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
KPFT Open Journal March 11, 2024
For more Open Journal, please visit their archive. Or just tune in to kpft.org.
In Episode 24 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika discuss about how cohousing facilitates letting go of some things that our modern lives foist upon us. As Lynn puts it "this isn't about downsizing!" Instead, they look at the ways that intentional community offers an alternative.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 23 Kelli Soika visits with Laura Eldredge to discuss her upcoming book discussion about David Brooks' new book, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. She talks about how the book resonates with the epidemic of loneliness and how she was touched by the content and ideas.
As David Brooks observes, “There is one skill that lies at the heart of any healthy person, family, school, community organization, or society: the ability to see someone else deeply and make them feel seen—to accurately know another person, to let them feel valued, heard, and understood.” So, basically what we're trying to do with cohousing!
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 22 Kelli Soika asks Lynn Morstead for an update on her downsizing efforts. What has happened since they last talked about it on the podcast. The questions are:
- Update on progress made?
- New Tips?
- Noticed a Change in my relationship with things?
- Things I’m planning to add?
Listen in to hear what Lynn has to say about her progress.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 21 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead talk about the statement Lynn picked up in a recent podcast (she cannot remember which one!) that "Community is a practice" like meditation, or yoga, or prayer. They explore this idea as it relates to cohousing.
Listen in to hear what they discover in their weekly cohousing conversation.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 20 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead invite Liz Parker, one of our community members, into the conversation to expand on a reflection Liz recently shared at a community gathering about the "Power of Invitation".
Tune in to hear what they had to say about how this has played out in their lives and how that connects to community building, as well as community life.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 19 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead review the past weekend retreat with members of their community on "Working with Conflict in Community". The workshop was lead by Laird Schaub. They talk about their personal light bulb moments and the next steps for the community.
Tune in to hear how the weekend worked out.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 18 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead reflect on the contrast between how much you talk about and focus on "cohousing" while you are forming a cohousing group compared to when you are actually living in cohousing.
Tune in to hear what they say about this. Compare it to your experience!
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 17 Kelli Soika introduces her new theme for 2024: The Year of the Neighbor. The first topic that Lynn Morstead and Kelli pick up on related to this theme is being "an authentic neighbor". Lynn shares a story of a situation that arose between the two of them, which might have normally lead to broken relations or at least temporarily cooled contact. In this case, Lynn decided to try a new way that is the way they are aspiring to live together in cohousing.
Tune in to hear what happened and how it worked out for them both. It's fresh and hot off the press!
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 16 It's the end of the year! Wrapping up 2023 and looking forward to 2024. Thanks for following along.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 15 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika talk about the tough questions they encounter regarding cohousing. Building a relationship with potential new neighbors is a wonderful opportunity to ask and answer the harder questions people have about living in cohousing. "What if I don't like everyone?," "What about the price per square foot?," and other questions.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 14 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead interview two CoHousing Houston members, about their experience with shared, meaningful work within cohousing and in other settings. They talk about how shared work helps with getting to know people, extend the ability to get things done, and saves money. They tackle some of the difficulties communities face in getting people to participate and the factors that come into play in a cohousing setting.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 13 Kelli Soika interviews CoHousing Houston member, Phil Berrie. Phil is the person tasked with figuring out what platform the community would like to use after move-in. They discuss the criteria for choosing a platform and some of the options available specifically for cohousing groups.
They discuss Gather and Mosaic, two popular platforms designed for cohousing groups.
Gather: Gather is The App for Community.
Gather’s mission is to make community easier so members can focus on having fun and building relationships. Created in 2015, Gather has been host to over 500 members, $100,000 worth of shared meals, 8,000 resource reservations, and much more.
Mosaic. websites for communities.
Modular. Integrated. Custom. Features designed to work together and with your procedures and policies.
Note: CoHousing Houston does not endorse either product and was not compensated to discuss them on this podcast.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 12 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead pick back up on their earlier conversation with Danny Milman, Development Manager at Urban Development Partners. They talk about the 7 things developers think about cohousers. Lynn and Kelli compiled lists of what they think developers think about. Danny brings the truth.
After the podcast, Danny shared with us her list of what a cohousing group brings to the development from a developer’s point of view.
In sequential order as it comes into play in the project:
- Early money – land, due diligence, design
- Focus group for the design (smaller units, ganged parking, extensive common facilities)
- Group support at entitlements (vs. just a developer or architect)
- Marketing & Sales
- Focus group for the bank / Presales
- Equity funding for construction
- The intangible – doing good by building community
And here is how the different development models take advantage of the benefit of having a cohousing group in the mix:
- UDP’s model takes advantage of all 7.
- Cohousing Partners (Jim Leach & Katie McCamant) put up some of the funds for #1, but then brought the group in.
- The Belgium developers at the cohousing conference skip the first 4 and then bring in buyers (and their money) just before construction.
- The British developers are bringing in funds for the #1, but still deciding on the remainder.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 11 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead come together immediately after listening to the CoHoUS talk by Katie McCamant on "Demystifying Common Meals" to share their reactions. They were enthusiastic and ready to start cooking common meals right away. Listen in to learn about their key take-aways.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 10 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead welcome Vanda Crossley, the founder of “This Is Us” Community in Fort Bend County, an area outside of Houston, Texas. Envisioned as an "agrihood," the community is coming together to have private homes and a shared commitment to growing food and looking out for one another.
For more information, check out www.thisisustx.com.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 9 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead discuss their reactions to the saying "If you have more than you need build a bigger table – not a higher fence." How they have experienced this in their lives and how cohousing is by definition an act of building a bigger table.
Listen in to learn more.
They are recommending the talk on "Demystifying Common Meals" that Katie McCamant will be giving October 11 @5pm CT which they plan to come back to discuss later in October. Join them in this listening building of our bigger table.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 8 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead interview professor, community leader, and nonprofit founder Jackie Augustine of Blueprint Geneva. Based in the upstate town of Geneva, New York, Jackie has identified cohousing as a model for engagement and cohesiveness in affordable housing. The discussion touches on how the model of cohousing can address some of the issues that affordable housing faces.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about Jackie's non-profit, Blueprint Geneva, click HERE.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 7 Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead visit with Jane Mueller, a founding member of Mission Peak Village, a forming cohousing community in Fremont, CA. The community is the first cohousing in their town, a walkable and bikeable area located in the East Bay, near San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. The community will have a large Common House and room for gardening and other community activities.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about Mission Peak Village, please visit their website at Mission Peak Village. They have regular online "Learn Abouts," meetings where you can get more information about the project and, if you're in the area, they also hold site visits.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 6 Shelly Parks returns for a 3rd visit on the podcast to talk about life post moving into her new community at Skagit Commons in Anacortes, WA. Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview Shelly about the journey from Dreaming (Season 1 Episode 7: What made Shelly Parks "jump" into cohousing) to Taking Action a few weeks after they had moved in ( Season 2 Episode 24: A Slice of Life in a New Cohousing Community) to Reflection today, 7 months after moving in.
She shares her fears and hopes at each stage of the journey and some of her thoughts on how this move has been different than other moves for her.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 5 Lynn Morstead shares her experience with the cohousing conference and Trish Becker, outlines all the ways The Cohousing Association of the US (CohoUS, for short) supports the growing cohousing environment. This is an important conversation for forming groups and anybody who wants to move from dreams to action.
Visit Cohousing.org.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 4 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika visit with Trish Becker, Executive Director of the Cohousing Association of the US. They ask her about the larger trends bringing people to cohousing and what people face when they decide they want a stronger sense of community.
In addition to being a founding member of Aria Cohousing in Denver, CO, Trish has a background in social work and community engagement, which makes her a good resource for how people move "from dreams to action."
Visit Cohousing.org.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 3 Kelli Soika visits with Rebecca Selove, a founding member of a forming cohousing community near Nashville, TN. Burns Village & Farm will sit on approximately 15 acres carved out of a large farm west of Nashville. The community will include a sustainable farm area managed by experienced professionals where community members can volunteer, learn, and obtain fresh food.
Come hear about how this lovely community is coming together.
For more information about Burns Village & Farm, please visit their website at https://burnsvillagefarm.com. They have regular online "Learn Abouts," meetings where you can get more information about the project and, if you're in the area, they also hold site visits.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Season Three Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika will be focusing on the next phase of their cohousing development. The homes are being framed up (or 'Up in the Air" as the developers call it) and the community is getting busier in preparation for a 2024 move in.
Tune into this next season to get updates on how it's going and what they are learning from others in the cohousing and intentional community world.
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 40 Kelli Soika interviews Kate Hand, member of the forming (and building!) community, Adams Creek Cohousing. They discuss the how the Hood River, OR community came together and what they're working on now as they near move-in.
Learn:
- what made Kate and her husband decide to join the community;
- the decision-making model sociocracy and the value it brings to Adams Creek;
- trials and tribulations of bringing a community together; and
- the vision for this new group.
If you think cohousing in this lovely Oregon community sounds like it might be right for you, they have homes available and would love to chat! https://www.adamscreekcohousing.com/
For more information about cohousing in Houston, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 39Lynn Morstead interviews Thomas Morstead about his experience playing in the NFL for 14 years. They explore aspects of working in a unique community of a professional sports team that might be interesting to a cohousing community.
They talk about numerous factors, including:
- Building relationships
- Leadership
- Conflict
- Cooperation
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 38 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Danny Milman, Development Manager at Urban Development Partners. Danny has a long history with cohousing starting with her masters thesis, a design and planning case study for a cohousing community in Austin TX. Today she is partnering with cohousing development projects, in her role at UD+P, to help them build new communities,
They talk about the places where cohousing groups get stuck and explore ideas around how to avoid or overcome these challenges.
- Finding/securing land
- Getting enough households
- Raising money
- Securing construction loan
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 37 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about what happens between the start and end of a forming cohousing group. Most cohousing starts and ends -essentially- as a social club. You meet for meals, go do fun things together, get to know each other: at first somewhere around town and at the end, in your Common House. In between, you have a significant project.
Lynn and Kelli talk about ways communities can reduce the variability in their projects, including:
- Modularized development components
- Repeatable processes
- Defined phases of the project
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 36Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Liz Parker about her take-aways from a recent Conflict Resolution trainingwith Laird Schaub.
Liz has 33 years of experience dealing with conflict in communities that include training, policy development and facilitating conflict situations. She found new, dynamic ideas in Laird's training that she shares with us in the podcast, such as:
- Naming the "red line" (distortion / distress)
- The "fire hose" analogy
- Dyads leading to specific actions
- Gossip - faction building vs. working through it with someone to get to a way to move it forward (venting / process)
Listen in to hear more and decode these concepts!
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 35Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about how the 3 phases of development parallel 3 phases of building a community.
Listen in to hear more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 34Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika give an update of what's happening with the project, from construction to member turnover to social connections and reflections on how a destination wedding gave a glimpse into community life.
Listen in to hear more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 33 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika are developing their "hang out" muscles at Moon Tower in the East End of Houston on a Friday evening. They return to the topic of "hanging out" from a recent Ezra Klein Show episode - they discussed "The Hang Out Factor" on April 20th. The topic keeps coming up again for them, so they are coming back for more reflections.
They are joined by Kelli's teen daughters and Lynn's husband.
Listen in to hear more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 32 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview their developer, David Kelley. They wanted to get an update from David since the last interview during the pandemic in August 2021 - Episode 24: Development during the pandemic explained. They talk about:
- How’s it going?
- What are the differences in being a developer in cohousing versus one building in a regular market scenario?
- What have been your surprises along the way?
- If you were to do another project, what would you do differently to-date?
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 31 Lynn Morstead interviews a long-standing member, Sandra Tirey, about her journey to cohousing. She talks about how she thought she had a unique idea for a better way of planning for the next phase of life until she learned this had already been done many times and was called cohousing -- and furthermore, there was already a group in Houston trying to do this. Hear about her increasing commitment to the project and her recent larger roles on the Design Liaison Team and Construction Interface Team, and what she's looking forward to after they all move in together.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 30 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika debrief their reactions to the April 18th Ezra Klein Show podcast:
The ‘Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in Our Social LivesThe Ezra Klein ShowHe interviews Sheila Liming, an associate professor of communications and creative media at Champlain College about her new book “Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time.”
It really resonates with WHY so many of us are searching for something like cohousing, so Lynn & Kelli decided to have a conversation about it on the podcast.
The podcast clarified so many aspects of their encounters with curious cohousers who struggle to get comfortable with many aspects of the design, while also longing for the benefits that community promises to bring their lives. They check in with themselves on what trade-offs they anticipate in their upcoming move and finish with asking each other "When was the last time you dared to do not much and dared to do in the company of others?"
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 29 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika take a walk through their new neighborhood and discover wonderful destinations all within 15 minutes of home!
The 15- minute neighborhood concept has caught our eye recently. We wondered what would be accessible on foot from our cohousing community, so we made a date and set out on foot one morning to see what we could learn. If you want to follow along, get your Google map ready and start at 114 Delmar, Houston, Texas 77011. We’re going to head north and east first. On this first walkabout we will stop and talk at the following spots:
- Burnet Elementary School - 5403 Canal St.
- Finca Tres Robles - corner of Norwood and Canal St.
- Magnolia’s Ice Cream & More - 6421 Brady .
- Street to Kitchen - 6501 Harrisburg Blvd - one block to the west of Old Town Harrisburg
- The Harrisburg Bike and Hike Trail
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 28 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika take a look at cohousing through two different lenses.
Lynn reflects on the many ways in which our lives have been made easier by devices like auto correct, eBikes, cars that parallel park, etc. and how cohousing is yet another way of making our run more smoothly in our modern world.
Kelli talks about how the rough edges of modern life can be blunted by cohousing because our rough edges are isolation. Some of the perceived inconveniences of cohousing actually serve to reconnect us with the people in our lives to counteract that isolation.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 27Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika explore what it takes to learn how to adopt new ways of participating in community that are different from what most of us have learned up to this point. They look at this learning curve through the lens of "The Four Stages of Competence". They rename the stages:
- Unconscious incompetence to "dolt"
- Conscious incompetence to "seeker" or "flummoxed"
- Conscious competence to "student"
- Unconscious competence to "teacher"
Listen in to learn more about their journey back and forth through these stages in community.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 26 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview Bob Francis about his family's move into Haystack Heights, in Spokane, Washington. His family was part of the first wave to move into their community after several years of planning. He shares some of the mechanics of the move-in process, personal experiences with the start-up and what they are focusing on today, 18 months later.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 25 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview a member, Valentina Hoyos, about her journey to cohousing, how this concept was something they had been talking about before they found out that it was being built in Houston. It feels very familiar to the environment she grew up in, in her home country of Colombia. She shares her experience of how our forming cohousing community has supported her and her family even before we all move in together.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 24 Kelli Soika interviews Shelley Parks about her long-planned, eagerly-awaited, and recently-completed (!) move into Skagit Commons, a new cohousing community in Anacortes, Washington. Shelly shares how she and her husband came to the decision to move into a smaller home and what it has been like to move in with neighbors in cohousing.
Listen in to learn more.
Shelly is the founder of CoVision Consulting, and has visited us before to share her story of jumping into cohousing first as a professional career shift, and then as a personal lifestyle choice. To hear the beginning of her story, check out Episode 7 of Tell Me More.
Bonus: Learn to say "Skagit."
In Episode 23 Lynn Morstead interviews a more recent member, Phil Berrie, about his journey to cohousing. He talks about his background, how he learned about cohousing, what has prepared him for consensus decisions making and how the Explorer experience was key to helping him make the decision to join. He's one of our members that was an Explorer on two separate occasions before applying for membership.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 22 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika talk about making new friends in adulthood. Inspired by Marisa Fanco's TED Talk about her book, Platonic, here are some of the key take-aways from her talk that they dig into deeper:
- "Collective connections are needed to make you feel whole"
- “For friendships to happen organically you need to have repeated unplanned interactions and shared vulnerability”
- “Transitioners” - are more likely to engage in new connections
- “The Exposure effect" - we tend to like people just because they are familiar.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 21 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika kick the tires on the new Open AI large language model,ChatGPT, by asking it some questions about living in community and then critiquing the answers.
The questions they ask are:
- How do you screen people for an intentional community?
- What should you do if someone joins your intentional community, and you don’t get along with them?
- Does consensus decision-making really work?
- Are the optimal conditions for successful consensus decision-making?
- How is an intentional community different from other communities?
Listen in to learn more about how ChatGPT performed and why we still need real humans to tell the real stories about living in community.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 20 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika interview Bryn Kanar from Sata Cruz, California, who has embarked on a search for a cohousing community to move to when he retires. Bryn attended one of Houston's recent information sessions on his journey through the various communities that meet his family's initial criteria.
They discussed:
- If you’ve visited with one group, have you “seen one, seen them all”?
- What role does geography play for you?
- What is it like to envision living somewhere different AND in a different way?
- Do you have any tips for others who are shopping?
- Do you have any tips for a group like ours that is recruiting?
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 19 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika talk about the challenge of explaining what cohousing feels like. Lynn relates this to the scene in "Vengeance", a 2022 comedy mystery movie where BJ Novak, a hip podcaster from NYC is interviewing a family in small-town West Texas trying to get them to explain what's so special about Whataburger. It isn't until BJ visits Whataburger several times with the family that the special qualities of Whataburger are gradually revealed to him.
Lynn & Kelli continue to explore approaches to helping capturing their interested future cohousing neighbors internalize what living in a cohousing community might be like for them.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 18 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika talk about how cohousing and living in a closer community might serve to downshift the pace of life for those in the community.
They refer to recent books related to the topic of how we perceive time:
Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
The Seven Day Circle: The History and Meaning of the Week by Eviatar Zerubavel
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 17 Lynn Morstead &Kelli Soika reflect on their take-aways related to cohousing from the two recent interviews on downsizing and decluttering with Michelle Passoff, author of LIGHTEN UP! Free Yourself From Clutter, and Sharon Staley, FASID, RID of Sharon Staley Interiors.
It wasn't the practical tips and tricks that they are still turning over in their minds, rather the non-tangible benefits that they connected with such as releasing energy to pursue life goals, deeper connections with others, intimacy of smaller spaces, becoming more truly 'you', and being so amazed and proud of yourself for having taken on this challenge.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 16 Lynn Morstead &Kelli Soika interview Sharon Staley, FASID, RID of Sharon Staley Interiors in Houston, Texas. They talk about the emotional journey of moving into smaller spaces and what it feels like when you arrive at that new place. Sharon also shares many design insights about smaller spaces that surprised us!
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 15 Lynn Morstead andKelli Soika look back at how much has been accomplished since this time last year and then take a brave and speculative look into the future that will be the year 2023. They each bring their take on CoHousing Houston predictions for 2023. They look at these from varying degrees of confidence, starting with High confidence, then Medium and finally Low confidence. It's a fun ride to close out an amazing 2022.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 14 Lynn Morstead interviews two of the teens in our cohousing community, Elise and Gabriel. They approached me about coming on the podcast to talk about cohousing from their corner of the world. They talk about how their family came to cohousing, the things that they are looking forward to when they move in, what they've experienced in our community thus far, as well some questions they have about how things will work out. You will be impressed with the next generation of cohousers!
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 13 Kelli Soika interviews Michelle Passoff, the author of LIGHTEN UP! Free Yourself From Clutter. She has travelled throughout the United States, the UK, and Australia leading seminars and doing private consultations on letting go of too many papers, clothes and other stuff as a life management tool — opening path to clarify one’s goals in life and opening the space to achieve them. They discuss the link between clutter and lifestyle as well as practical ways to get started with the sorting. Michelle is now working on a book on Decluttering for the 55+ community.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 12 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about their reactions to "Choosing Civility: 25 Rules of Considerate Conduct", written by P.M.Forni. The conversation originally started via texting over Thanksgiving after Kelli shared a blog post on the topic with Lynn from the Seattle Times: Want to be a better person? Here are 25 rules of civility.
Looking through the lens of living in community, they share their personal favorites, how these resonated with them, and sprinkle in some real-life stories from cohousing . They also reveal the ones they least like and why and wrap it up with a couple extra that they would like to add to the list.
Here's the P.M.Forni list to have in front of you as you listen:
1. Pay attention.
2. Acknowledge others.
3. Think the best.
4. Listen.
5. Be inclusive.
6. Speak kindly.
7. Don’t speak ill.
8. Accept and give praise.
9. Respect even a subtle “No.”
10. Respect others’ opinions.
11. Mind your body.
12. Be agreeable.
13. Keep it down (and rediscover silence).
14. Respect other people’s time.
15. Respect other people’s space.
16. Apologize earnestly.
17. Assert yourself.
18. Avoid (unnecessary) personal questions.
19. Care for your guests.
20. Be a considerate guest.
21. Think twice before asking favors.
22. Refrain from idle complaints.
23. Accept and give constructive criticism.
24. Respect the environment and be gentle to animals.
25. Don’t shift responsibility and blame.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 11 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about what they've learned about facilitating conflict in cohousing over the past few years in their forming community. They have grouped the conflict types into 4 categories. For each one they describe what they've experienced and how they have tried to help facilitate this.
- Chaos conflict
- Anxiety conflict
- Triggered conflict
- Deep and Real conflict
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 10 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika are back again with another quiz. This time they walk through a quiz on "How do I know cohousing is right for me". There are many on the internet, they just picked one at random to go through. How would you answer these questions?
Listen in to find out what they are.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 9 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview community members Beni & Paresh about their recent several month adventure across the country in their experiment with a home on wheels. They worked and played and visited old friends on their quest to check off all the National Parks. In the process they learned a lot about what they really needed to be happy and the benefits of living in smaller spaces with less stuff.
Click here to see what their vehicle looks like: The Plateau TS
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 8 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about how their Houston community measures up against an assessment questionnaire that helps you determine if you are an Ecovillage. We’ve been working through our values and one of our values is sustainability. That brought up the question as to whether we are an eco village, so Kelli went searching for a definition and found a questionnaire that we work our way through in this podcast. We were surprised at the outcome of our assessment! Maybe you will be too.
Take the Ecovillage Questionnaire: HERE
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 7 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview Karin Hoskin from Wild Sage Cohousing community in Boulder, Colorado. Lynn met Karin when she attended her talk on "Community Living at its Best" at the Madison National Cohousing Conference in August, 2022. She was so fired up about all the community and relationship building activities they plan at Wild Sage that she wanted to have her share these with our listeners.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 6 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview members June and Bob Woest about a recent downsizing exercise they did with their adult children. It's a very touching and informative conversation that offers some new ideas on how to get started, and what it's going to be like to go through this process.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 5 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview Cynthia Tina, founder of "Community Matchmaking" and former trustee and Co-Director of the Foundation for Intentional Community. She has visited over 200 communities across the world. They explore the different models of intentional communities in the US, from ecovillages, to co-living, cohousing and more. You can find a guide of the common types of communities and their definitions on Cynthia's website here: https://cynthiatina.com/community-types/
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 4 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about the different kinds of abundance that brings about community. We were inspired by an Atlas Obscura podcast on the Libre Intentional Artist Community: an interview with Luz Fleming on the place where he grew up—Libre, one of the longest lasting intentional communities that still exists. Luz Fleming's mother was one of the founders of an artists’ intentional community in Colorado back in the 60’s. The final question in the podcast was: could you recreate that today? And her answer was that they created the community out of abundance (cheap land, a donation, free time, etc) and she wasn't sure whether that was possible today. So it made us ask what is the abundance that we have and how have we employed that to bring about our CoHousing Houston group?
We don't have cheap land, a donation or lots of free time, so what are our areas of abundance?
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 3 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about the introduction to explore their Enneagram at their cohousing Fall Retreat weekend. Wikipedia defines it as "a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types." As our member facilitator guided our group through an introduction of each type we each made personal discoveries and took time to reflect how these impact our interactions with the group. The conversation has spilled over beyond the weekend and into many of our other meetings and gatherings this week, so we wanted to continue the conversation on the podcast to share with others.
This has energized new pathways to learning about each other that we wanted to share with our listeners. We have been reminded how exercises that stimulate this level of awareness and interactions are core to deepening our understanding of each other, which in turn builds stronger community.
Listen in to learn more.
Here are some more resources from our facilitator:
Enneagram assessment toolEnneagram Type Introduction
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 2 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview Lew Bowers from PDX Commons cohousing community in Portland, Oregon. As CoHousing Houston begins construction and brings in the last waves of members, Lew helps them think through integration of the new members and the changing requirements for community leadership.
Listen in to learn more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
Welcome to Season 2!
We're pivoting from design and financing to building. A new phase means a new season of Tell Me More. In Episode 1 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about what it means to move into this new era of the CoHousing Houston project and make some predictions about what's to come. Also, we check in about Lynn's downsizing project. Spoiler alert: she has some work to do :)
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Music by Vitaliy Levkin from Pixabay.
In Episode 81 the focus is on the term "co-housing." How does it capture the concept and where does it fail? Based on a Katie McCamant comment in a “Transforming Cities” interview. The interviewer asks her a question about why cohousing isn’t on fire right now. It seems to address all the current pressure points in our society: combats isolation, more sustainable way of living and community resilience. So what hasn’t it really become a bigger movement? Katie says that in her experience people don’t really understand it.
To hear the original interview in the "Transforming Cities" podcast, click HERE.
And don't forget to email us your idea for a term to capture the concept of co-housing!
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
←Previous Episode
In Episode 80 Lynn and Kelli discuss how becoming an Explorer is like taking a Master Class in cohousing. If you've read the books and watched the TED talks, they think it is time for you to take a class in the form of joining a group as an Explorer.
They also make a pitch for why to join CoHousing Houston today as an Explorer. Hear Lynn's Five Reasons Why the time is now.
Listen in to find out more.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 79 Kelli weaves together the sounds and discussions from the 2022 National Cohousing Conference in Madison that just wrapped up in late August. Lynn was able to catch up with friends, meet people new to cohousing, and hear from the folks who have been around while and continue to glean new insights about this form of community.
Listen in to find out more
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 78 Lynn and Kelli talk about a principle they have found to be one of the critical success factors in marketing cohousing, "chop wood and carry water". It's a Zen proverb, that they have internalized as a faithful discipline of staying on task with the plans they commit to. Come rain or shine, whether you feel like it or not, they describe how they simply carry on and keep chopping wood and carrying water.
Lynn and Shelly Parks at CoVision Consulting will be talking about this principle and 6 others in their presentation at the National Cohousing Conference in Madison on August 27th. Look for "Seven Critical Success Factors in Developing a High Performance Cohousing Sales & Marketing Team" in the session descriptions, and stop by to say hi to Lynn and Shelly if you're in Madison.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 77 Lynn and Kelli talk about how they have improved their approach to engaging and converting "Explorers", a step along the way for interested future cohousers to consider if this might be the right community for them.
A big turning point in their approach was precipitated by engaging Shelly Parks at CoVision Consulting. Lynn describes how the weekly coaching hour with Shelly was a game-changer.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 76 Lynn reflects on a very fresh and personal learning about what deep listening looks like, and how that can transform the conversation and the relationship. Together, Kelli and Lynn process this experience and discuss how building relationships and solving people issues is different than working on business problems. People challenges take more time and the solution is found internally within each one of us, as opposed to externally by the group, or a boss, or a rule, or system.
Post recording, Kelli drew a connection to the concept of "no audition" spaces that Courtney Martin has been writing about this year. Check out her post on this and let us know what you think: No auditions on worthiness.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 75 a special guest, Gretchen, a kid who has lived in cohousing and is part of the forming community here in Houston, talks to Kelli Soika about the experience of moving into cohousing as young child and growing up in community. They look at aspects of how community shaped Gretchen's life as well as their family.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 74 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Janet Murphy, member of Arboretum Cohousing in Madison, Wisconsin. Janet has lived there since everyone moved in 14 yrs ago this fall. It’s multigenerational, comprising40 households, 90 people, about 20 children. .
We talked about the car share program, called CoCar, that she spearheaded getting organized for her community.
We try to cover all the topics others might be interested in asking about, such as:
- How did the program get started
- What were the concerns, questions and inspirations for doing this
- How was it financed originally
- Who participates
- What about all the pesky details like reservations, paying for gas, maintenance, etc.
- How has the community benefited from this program
- How car sharing promotes connections and sustainability
If you want to find out more, come to Madison August 26-28, to theNational Cohousing Conference, where Janet will be giving a presentation on her car sharing program.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 73 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Jim Leach, president of Wonderland Hill Development Company. He has led the company in developing over 20 cohousing communities in Colorado, California, Arizona, and Washington. He is a builder with over 50 years of experience in the design, construction and development of sustainable, planned neighborhoods.
We talk about "building a custom neighborhood":
- How he first got involved in cohousing as a developer in the late 1980s.
- How they developed the first models for financing, co-designing and co-developing with the future community home owners
- Learnings from developing cohousing projects over several decades
- The struggles that groups go through to complete and sustain a community project, and
- The joys and rewards of how living in a cohousing community creates a more sustainable lifestyle than any of us could achieve on an individual basis
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 72 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Carolyn White, a member of our community and active participant on the Landscaping Team. We talk about:
- How their team is designing for connection and sustainability.
- How they are incorporating the principles of One Health
- The Landscaping mission that is guiding their planning: "Landscape Team will guide the CoHousing Houston community through planning, design, installation, and maintenance of landscape features, plantings, and gardens to co-create an amazing greenspace for all."
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 71 Lynn Morstead interviews Darren Vandenberg, a recent joiner of a forming cohousing community in Melbourne, Australia. He contacted us after listening to our podcast, so we invited him to join the conversation from across the globe. We talk about:
- How "caravanning" in Australia lead him to seek community in cohousing
- Joining an already formed group
- Maintaining things until move-in date 2025!
- Group behavioral assumptions - theory vs. reality
- Project length and how it works against attracting families and younger members
- Modest personal house - Big Common House vs .....
Listen in to find out more about our conversation.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events..
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 70 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview Rachel Claret, one of the community's newer members. Rachel talks about her path to cohousing and the signals along the way that made it very clear to her that this was the right next move for her.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 69 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika hold a conversation about what life is like in a cohousing community over the summer months.
- Summer rites of passage (graduations, returning from college)
- Summer holidays from Memorial Day to July 4th to Labor Day
- Leaving your home for a longer trip
- Activities with kids
- Gardening
- Celebrations and traditions
- Participating in other city and neighborhood activities
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 68 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika hold a conversation about the paradigm shift in how we decide where to live. Cohousers prioritize community versus location or design, which is a novel concept here in Houston, Texas. They conclude that cohousing holds open the space of considering the value of community and people often tie this concept back to something they know and understand from their own experience. It’s not location, it’s not design, it’s the people.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
←Previous Episode
In Episode 67 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika continue their conversation about consensus decision making by bringing in an acknowledged expert, Laird Schaub, an author and coach whose involvement with the Foundation for Intentional Community has made him a leading expert in the field.
The discussion begins with an explanation of cooperative culture and how it compares to a competitive environment and then they explore specific scenarios navigated by communities, including:
- Gathering information in a way that moves consensus forward,
- What happens when individuals listen and are heard,
- The roles of the facilitator and experienced members of the community,
- How to bring multi-modal information into a discussion,
- And more.
This episode references Laird Schaub's courses, including:
- ONLINE: Consensus 201 for Cooperative Groups (LINK)
- ONLINE: The Art of Facilitation for Cooperative Groups (LINK)
- IN-PERSON: Cohousing 301 Intensive at the National Cohousing Assiciation's 2022 Conference which will be held in Madison, Wisconsin on August 26-28, 2022. For more information, visit Cohousing.org.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 66 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about how an idea becomes an agreement using a consensus process. Broken down into 5 steps, Lynn and Kelli talk about how a small group and the plenary work together to find common ground.
They cover:
- Step 1- Defining the case for action
- Step 2- Collecting criteria and listening to the community.
- Step 3- Working out an agreement that meets the community's needs.
- Step 4- Coming to consensus.
- Step 5- Wrap it up
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Finally moving in after 5 years of planning and hard work! Village Hearth CoHousing resident, Margaret Roesch visits with Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika. They discuss the triumphs, surprises, connections, and lessons learned from moving into a new cohousing community.
Listen in to find out more. Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 64 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika discuss what they've observed about Explorers, who join their community to determine whether this is the right thing for them.
They talk about the clarifying experience for so many Explorers, when they take their due diligence seriously. They figure out their next move. Sometimes it's cohousing in Houston and other times it's something completely different.
Listen in to find out more. Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 63 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview our member Jan Van Louizen about rank-choice voting and other methods that assist consensus decision making.
They cover:
- What is rank-choice voting and how does it work.
- Where it is useful in a cohousing community where consensus decision-making is normally the approach
- Examples of where this has been used in CoHousing Houston
- Thoughts on weighted voting and when that might be useful.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 62 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika interview the Treasurer, Kip Krause, about his role in our development project.
They cover:
- The responsibilities covered and how these are shared with the developer.
- What tasks are outside of the Treasurer role.
- How this role works with the Finance, Legal and Development (FLD) team.
- What skills are required.
- What are some of the lessons learned.
- The important aspects of a Treasurer role in a cohousing community, such as transparency, while also preserving confidentiality when needed.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 61 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika pick up the topic of kids in cohousing.
They cover:
- How to involve kids in shared work
- How they transition from small tasks into becoming part of the conversation
- How kids raised in cohousing find their voice in adult groups more quickly through more frequent encounters and the ability to sit in on more adult conversations
- How the group works to define agreements around how to protect the relationships between adults and children so everyone is safe
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 60 Lynn Morstead interviews our member, Carolyn White, about her journey through many different community experiences starting with an extended family compound on a lake in Michigan, to a Kibbutz in Israel, to field projects in Death Valley, to a cooperative vegetarian restaurant in Minneapolis and now landing in CoHousing Houston.
Carolyn talks about:
- The steps along the way that immersed in her community living starting at a very young age
- What appeals to her about joining a forming community
- What attracted her to CoHousing Houston
- What its like to grow into community
- What her roles are in the forming CoHousing Houston group
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 59 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika give an introduction to CoHousing Houston.
We cover what we typically share in one of our public Zoom information sessions:
- How we're organized under the CoHousing Houston LLC
- The composition of the membership
- Our timeline
- How we do work together and make decisions
- Our plans for green building and sustainable living
- Key facts about the project in terms of size, location and prices
- How you can find out more by becoming an Explorer
Listen in to find out more about our conversation, or register for one of our upcoming Zoom information sessions at https://www.cohousinghouston.com/events.
For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 58 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview one of our podcast listeners who reached out to us earlier this year. Nick Michelsen, a fire fighter in Edmonton, Canada, started listening to our podcast after reading about a new cohousing community in Edmonton. He was curious what else he could find about cohousing in a podcast search on "cohousing". Our podcast popped up and he's been a regular listener ever since!
We wanted to interview Nick about his experiences that have sparked his passion for community and cohousing as a way of living. In this interview we cover:
- A year working at the organic farm in Svanholm, an intentional community located near the village of Skibby, 60km from Copenhagen on the isle of Sealand in Denmark.
- Life in the firehall with Nick's rig team.
- How the fire fighters manage the cooking and the kitchen together.
- The positive value of work to the healthy dynamic of the fire hall relationships.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 57 Kelli Soika interviews our member, Susan Daniels, about her path to joining CoHousing Houston. Susan talks about how she strives to align her values with her financial priorities, and how cohousing fits very well into her vision and plans for her life.
A companion podcast to this one is Episode 56 - The pesky price per square foot question, which talks about with the challenge of placing a value on something like community.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 56 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the pesky "price per square foot" question that comes up when people attempt to evaluate a cohousing purchase based on the price per square foot alone.
They talk about the tangible and intangible factors that may be overlooked or hard to quantify when making such a direct comparison.
This podcast also links to Episode #57, an interview with our member, Susan Daniels, on her road to cohousing. Susan talks about her own way to look at the costs vs. value and how she has made this decision in her life.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 55 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about some of the challenges and benefits of making consensus based decisions. The inspiration for this topic came from Lynn's participation in a 5-week training course on Consensus for Cooperative Groups, hosted by the Foundation for Intentional Communities being taught by Laird Schaub. This comes after the first week class only! So watch this space for more insights from Laird's sharing of his deep experience over the next four weeks.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 54 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Nancy Rielle, who we met earlier this year when her cross-country "Intergenerational Cohousing Walkabout" brought her to Texas.
We talk about
- How this journey started
- What was the plan, and how did COVID redefine things
- How did the different communities along the way respond to her request to visit
- What are her key take-aways from this first trip out to see the cohousing world
- We take a side trip into the importance of eating together in community
- The next stage of the journey as things open up again after this latest COVID surge
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Listen to Eye On Houston's interview of Kelli and Lynn on Audacy Houston's weekly Public Affairs program.
Eli Escobar interviewed Kelli Soika and Lynn Morstead from Co-Housing Houston. A new residential community concept is set to break ground in the thriving and historic East End Houston. A cohousing community is intended to provide its residents unique benefits, such as fostering a profound sense of belonging by sharing a common purpose. Isolation is minimized through a physical and social design that naturally facilitates community interaction. Residents may also share the cost of everyday living expenses such as transportation, groceries, and internet usage. CoHousing Houston is a multi-generational community of people from all sorts of backgrounds who have come together to develop the first-ever cohousing community near parks, bike trails, and light rail in Houston, Texas. Cohousing fosters sustainability and connection through physical spaces where neighbors interact with others just outside their private homes. Visit the website for more information at https://www.cohousinghouston.com
In Episode 52 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk with CoHousing Houston member PD Wadler about his road to cohousing and some of his experiences of cohousing to-date.
PD reflects on the various threads that lead him to this decision, from visiting friends who live in cohousing in Massachusetts, to the difference between a chosen and family of origin and how COVID has awakened all of us to the importance of an interconnected life.
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 51 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika take a moment to reflect on the Jan 21, 2022 long-awaited and first in Texas cohousing groundbreaking.
Topics we cover are:
- A short message from one of our esteemed speakers, State Senator Carol Alvorado, District 6.
- The highlights of the day
- The surprises, from glorious weather to huge turnout from near and far
- What were the "must repeat" next time we hold a big event on the site
- What would be want to improve on next time
- Reflections on how this day has launched the next phase of our project.
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 50 Lynn Morstead interviews East End resident Roy Lira (President of the Super Neighborhood #63 in the Second Ward, Vice Chair for the Super Neighborhood Alliance, and a director in the East End District) and Diego Degenhart, a senior at Rice University and Community Bridges Fellow at the Kinder Institute. She wanted to learn more about the unique characteristics of our future neighborhood from their perspective.
Topics we cover are:
- How these neighborhood organizations support the East End community.
- The unique characteristics of the East End including heritage, demographics, culture, community connections, walkability and celebrations.
- The Buffalo Bayou Partnership East Sector Master Plan
- Misconceptions about the East End
- How does the East End compare to the suburbs in Houston
- Advice for how CoHousing Houston can integrate into the community
For more information about Super Neighborhood #63 please refer to :LINK
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 49 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Margaret Wallace Brown, Director of the City of Houston Planning & Development Department. They discuss urban planning in Houston and how CoHousing Houston fits into the vision for the city.
Topics we cover are:
- Background on the city's dominant housing options and the uniqueness of cohousing being introduced into this limited set.
- How cohousing aligns with Houston's vision for building stronger communities.
- The CoHousing Houston project supports the Planning & Development Department's goals for walkability, use of public transportation, use of city amenities, urban infill and integration into the existing neighborhoods.
- The impact of an intergenerational community on the resilience, safety and well-being of the members.
For more information about the City of Houston Planning & Development Department please refer to :LINK
Listen in to find out more about our conversation. For more information about our project, please check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 48 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Sophy Botsford, a 5th year architecture student at Oxford Brookes University, UK about her cohousing project.
Sophy's project is about developing a series of intergenerational cohousing communities in Camden, London designed for the year 2050. We discuss:
- The aims of the project: improve mental and physical health, develop a framework to make it easier for cohousing communities to be developed.
- The characteristics of her project: urban, intergenerational, sustainable, community input
- A holistic approach to planning for the future informed by the Arup 2050 Scenarios (link: https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/research/section/2050-scenarios-four-plausible-futures)
- The benefits of intergenerational living (reference: https://www.matterarchitecture.uk/research/intergenerational-housing/)
Refer to Sophy's framework diagram describing the holistic approach to her design:LINK
Listen in to find out more. Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 47 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about how you find your way to cohousing. There's a roadmap you can follow that will lead you to cohousing. Take the first step today by listening to this podcast.
They cover:
- The 5 steps to getting from "Hearing about it" to "Moving in"
- The Explorer experience for test-driving a community before committing
- Cohousing is about choosing a neighborhood with neighbors rather than a piece of real estate.
- You can find the roadmap artwork in their latest newsletter here: January Newsletter: Exciting News for 2022
Listen in to find out more. Check out our website at www.cohousinghouston.com. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
Lynn & Kelli are sharing with you an interview conducted by Dr. Kim Swales on her "Connecting with Dr. Kim Swales" podcast with us earlier in the fall. We had a delightful conversation about Connecting, Community and Cohousing
Do you want to learn how to connect and communicate better in your relationships? Dr. Kim Swales and rotating guests will discuss parenting, marriage, dating, friendship, family, relationships and self-growth in this podcast about connecting better in life. Episodes will include the latest research, real-life stories, listener questions and practical tips that will help you create and maintain happier and healthier connections. Tune in each Thursday for a new episode.
Instagram: @drkimswales
Email: khswales@comcast.net
In Episode 45 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about how their community is structured to support all the activities that constitute the work needed to bring this project to life.
They cover:
- The current teams, such as Finance, Legal and Development, Process, Marketing, Membership, Neighborhood Engagement, Social and Coordinating
- Volunteer teams vs. Nominated teams
- How the work shifts as the project stage shifts
- The meeting cadence and logistics
- What are the possible future teams as they shift from physical architecture planning to social design
Listen in to find out more. Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 44 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the results of an informal survey across cohousing communities in the US on what kinds of things they celebrate.
Some of the cool discoveries they discuss are:
- Fashion parades
- Fiddlin’ and pickin’ musical potlucks
- No-Talent shows
- Guess who's coming to dinner parties
- Summer Olympics
- Hat parties
- and so much more ...
It seems that cohousers find so many more creative ways to come together and celebrate life. Listen in to find out more.
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 43 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Dr. Stacey Pisklak, a general psychiatrist, with a special interest in connections. Due to technical difficulties during the original recording, this podcast comprises a collection of the golden nuggets we were able to capture interspersed with some post-recording reflections by Lynn and Kelli.
Some of the key topic areas they cover in this episode are:
- The power of morning rituals
- What is isolation and how do we recognize it
- How mirror neurons play a role in our connections to each other
- How we co-regulate and calm each other down
- The special isolation challenges face by new mothers
- Tips for overcoming isolation and social anxiety
Listen in to see if any of these resonate with you. What's your story? Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 42 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the hurdles and barriers that people bring up when considering the possibility of cohousing. They also talk about their personal journey in dealing with these challenges.
Some of the key topic areas they cover in this episode are:
- Downsizing - too hard or don't want to let go
- Overscheduled lives - giving up time for community
- Privacy - will people walk into my house without knocking?
- Don't want to live with my parents - living with different generations
- Pets - how to accommodate them in the community setting
Listen in to see if any of these resonate with you. What's your story? Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 41 Lynn Morstead talks to CoHousing Houston member Jim Rosenbach about his road to cohousing and some reflections on how his experience of cohousing to-date relates to prior experiences living in community in the Navy.
Jim and Lynn talk about his learnings and surprises about living in community and some of the aspects of community that he is already experiencing in CoHousing Houston, even before we move in together. Here are some highlights:
- The best way to support a community member is to preserve their privacy.
- Newcomers can establish fast friendships and trust.
- We celebrate our differences across different backgrounds.
Let us know if you have any comments or ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 40 Kelli Soika talks to CoHousing Houston member, Liz Parker about conflict resolution and how to shift from "fight, flight, or freeze" to a place where conflict is productive and deepens relationships.
They talk about the underlying elements that can cause conflict as well as healthy structures that support relationships including:
- Conflict is inevitable, nobody likes it but there are ways to manage it that make it productive and preserve the relationship, rather than destructive.
- Consensus and curiosity level the playing field and help us to figure out what someone's "story" is.
- A healthy conflict resolution process begins with culture.
Let us know if you have any great ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 39 Kelli Soika & Lynn Morstead talk to Rosemary, a CoHousing Houston member who has lived in cohousing and chose to move to Houston to be closer to her grandchildren. Rosemary and Kelli talk about how people of different ages live and work together.
Some of the dimensions of intergenerational living include:
- Different ages bring different skills....
- And different needs.
- How intergenerational living in cohousing is different from living with your own family.
Let us know if this sparks any thoughts for you by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 38 Kelli Soika interviews CoHousing Houston Member, Steve Stelzer. He brings an interesting perspective on cohousing as a long-time advocate for green living, an architect who believes design can change how people live, and as the Program Director of the Green Building Resource Center at the City of Houston.
Steve walks us through design elements specific to the CoHousing Houston project that encourage a sustainable and green lifestyle as well as elements that are common to cohousing across the U.S.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 37 Kelli Soika & Lynn Morstead talk about how cohousing increases your ability and the likelihood that you can live out a "Think Globally, Act Locally" approach to life.
Cohousing makes this possible through:
- Moving from the aspirational to the actionable
- Coming together to take on projects you wouldn't be able to do on your own
- Bringing together different skills and experiences
- Learning from each other
- Stretching beyond where we know to go on our own
- Exposing our children to a wider group of adults with different backgrounds and careers.
Let us know if you have any great ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 36 Kelli Soika & Lynn Morstead talk about one of the 4 P's in community (Pets, Parking, Parenting and Participation). "Participation" is on their minds today.
They ask themselves lots of questions about participation during the formation stages of a community. Not as many answers as usual, so your thoughts in an email (info@cohousinghouston.com) or a comment on our blog post would make this a richer dialogue. Here are some of the questions they muse on:
- We are participating at different levels - will that stay the same when we move in?
- How can we broaden participation?
- Are we creating "cultivated rose" gardens vs. "wild rose" gardens that may be more durable in a storm?
- How do we help those who feel intimidated by what appears to be a high bar for when they are inexperienced?
- What can we do to prevent those with a heavy load from burning out?
Let us know if you have any great ideas by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 35 Kelli Soika & Lynn Morstead reflect on the weekend events with the members and explorers. CoHousing Houston held their first community baby shower and first community work day.
They talk about how these events were different by having so many different people involved. CoHousing Houston is already experiencing the benefits of a strong community in these areas:
- Organizing is more robust
- Doing MORE than we would have on our own
- Bringing together different skills
- Taking advantage of different resources and tools
- Greater wealth of ideas
- Built-in redundancy and backup
- Fun and connectedness
- Pride - a sense of accomplishment working together.
- Sharing the load left us feeling energized rather than depleted
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 34 Kelli Soika & Lynn Morstead interview Jane Schmitt as part of their quest to gather more perspectives on board structures and sizes. Jane has no cohousing experience other than what she has read about in the Houston press and heard about from two of the founding members of CoHousing Houston, Lynn & Kip.
Jane's background:
Jane was a VP of Cooper Cameron before retiring and becoming President of the Stages Theatre board in Houston. She also lives in a large high-rise condo, where her husband serves on the board. In addition to overseeing a $30M new build construction of the theater during her tenure, Jane attended courses at Rice's Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership on board formation and hired a board consultant to help restructure the theater board.
This interview covers:
- The board structures for the theater and home owner's association.
- How does a board handle difficult situations such as:
- Confidentiality
- Sensitive topics
- Conflict between members
- Lawsuits
- Board liability
- Working with outside groups such as the neighborhood
- How would she expect us to organize our board based on what she knows about our community.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 33 Kelli Soika interviews Katie McCamant, of Cohousing Solutions, about how boards are structured in cohousing and asks her some of the tougher questions our members are asking based on their experience with boards outside of the cohousing world.
They cover:
- Typical cohousing board structures
- How does a board including all households (aka 'board of the whole') handle difficult situations such as:
- Confidentiality
- Sensitive topics
- Conflict between members
- Lawsuits
- Board liability
- Working with outside groups such as the neighborhood
In their next episode Kelli and Lynn will interview a person with extensive experience on boards outside of the cohousing world. Stay tuned for Episode #34.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 32 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk the importance of professionals in a cohousing development project.
They cover:
- What do we mean by professionals?
- Organizing help: Cohousing consultant / Developer
- Physical Architecture: Architects / Landscape designer
- Social Architecture: Marketing / Process strategy / Meeting facilitation
- What are these professionals important?
- Saves time, money, mistakes
- How do you find them and hire them?
- Cohousing.org conferences & website
- 500 Communities
- Local Architect and Developer helps with local contacts
- Other communities
- Tips for engaging and managing professional relationships.
- Clear roles & responsibilities
- Standing meetings and documentation standards
- Clear processes for managing interface with the community
Don't forget that consultants are with you for a short period and then they are gone…. The community relationships need to be in place. They get there by working together, not working with a consultant.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 31 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about one of the principle tenets of cohousing, the "Everyday Encounter".
They cover:
- What does an everyday encounter look like and feel like.
- Where are these most likely to happen and when.
- Why are these so important to our general well being.
- What aspects of our physical design contribute to making everyday encounters more likely to happen.
- Why are cohousing everyday encounters different than the neighborhood where we live today?
The cohousing everyday encounter is key building a 'small-town mindset' about community in the middle of one of the largest cities in the country,
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 30 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the challenges of marketing a cohousing concept to a traditional buyer.
They cover:
- The "upside down" development nature of a cohousing development.
- "Trads" vs "rads".
- Principles for dealing with traditional buyers:
- Meet people where they are
- Don't withhold information
- Keep the conversation going
- Invite to community events
- Model good community behaviors
- Highlight what stays the same
- Capture hearts and imagination by telling the story of cohousing
- Share cohousing anecdotes
- Connect some cohousing stories with people's experiences outside cohousing so they can extrapolate to a cohousing experience
- Don't >>
- Lecture
- Get frustrated
- Forget that we started there too
It takes time to shift and stretch into a different way of thinking about living.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 29 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview Clay Zdobylak.
Clay covers a lot of ground for us in this interview:
- Clay has identified a link between communitarianism and cohousing ... we wanted to know what "communitarianism" is and how he he sees aspects of this in cohousing.
- Wikipedia says: "Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relationships, with a smaller degree of development being placed on individualism."
- But Clay can explain it in terms that actually mean something to a non-academic
- He shares experiences he's had that illustrate this ideal
- Where our cohousing project is living this out in the form of:
- Shared vision & culture
- Shared common space (digital for now)
- Practicing direct democracy
- He wraps it up with two compelling reasons why he and his wife are drawn to cohousing.
Makes us think of the Simon and Garfunkel words "Slow down, you move too fast You got to make the morning last / Hello lamppost, what'cha knowing, I've come to watch your flowers growin'"
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 28 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the value of slowing down in life.
We're all thinking about hurricanes this week on the Gulf coast and in our cohousing community we're finalizing our budget. The budget process has been slow and arduous but we've brought it to a solid and well-supported conclusion. At the same time many recent hurricanes have stalled out in the Gulf and packed a harder punch when they make landfall.
Slowing down happens on a daily basis in cohousing:
- Provides space for relationships to grow
- Creates opportunities for connections
- Brings people together
- ... and so much more
Makes us think of the Simon and Garfunkel words "Slow down, you move too fast You got to make the morning last / Hello lamppost, what'cha knowing, I've come to watch your flowers growin'"
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 27 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the opportunity that cohousing offers to get serious about your aspirations for a better life and actually put these into practice.
We often talk about grand ideals, but so often fail to put them into action. Cohousing is a place where things can, and do, really happen:
- Building an intentional community means showing up every day to live out your values
- Intergenerational living
- Smaller footprint
- Shared resources
- Expanded social and emotional connections
- Being more active
- Inoculation against isolation
- Having an immediate local impact beyond the walls of our own homes
- Sense of purpose
It's risky, but "Every good thing in our lives is a direct result of risk.” Glennon Doyle
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 26 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika talk about the "Doing Work Together", one of the 3 keys to cohousing.
They talk about the questions that we get asked about the shared work component to living in cohousing. How is it structured? What if I'm not skilled or able? What if people don't participate? Listen in to their conversation to learn more.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 25 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interviewKatie McCamant from Cohousing Solutions, our cohousing consultant, about the unique aspects of developing a cohousing project.
Katie covers a broad range of topics related to launching, organizing, financing and developing a cohousing project based on her 30+ years experience helping cohousing communities come to life. Katie closes with a message that she considers CoHousing Houston to be "unstoppable". We will get there!
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 24 Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika interview David Kelley, CoHousing Houston member and developer.
They cover the role of a developer in a cohousing project, how this is different from a traditional development project and how the 2021 construction world is different than anything he's experienced in his many decades as a developer. David closes this with a message of confidence that CoHousing Houston will get this project off the ground and why.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 23 Lynn Morstead interviews Kelli Soika and Rosemary Lowden, current CoHousing Houston members, who have 14 years lived experience in cohousing communities between them.
They chat about the essence of the "secret sauce" that is the magical common house at the heart of a cohousing community.
Listen in to hear their stories and reflections on how the common house adds to the rich experience of living in cohousing.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 22 Kelli Soika interviews Lynn Morstead about what's been happening since CoHousing Houston received the estimates from the General Contractor.
They talk about how the community is dealing with the higher than expected estimates, from an individual and community perspective, as well as the process steps they are taking to tackle the delta.
It's a few minutes longer than the usual weekly podcast, but it's worth a listen!
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 21 Lynn Morstead interviews Dee Dishon from Touchstone Cohousing in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dee talks about how she originally came to cohousing 25 years ago in Northern Virginia. She gives us insights into what it took to stick with her first project for the five years it took to get it off the ground. Since then she has moved to Ann Arbor and found cohousing there again.
"The worst day in cohousing is a thousand times better than the best day in any other kind of neighborhood"
She cannot imagine living any other way. She assures us that it's all worth the effort!
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 20 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about what "shared work" looks like in a cohousing community. Kelli breaks it down into the different types of work and what you can expect from participating in community through working together.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 19 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about the current phase of their forming community, which is something they are calling "Value Engineering".
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 18 Kelli Soika introduces Lynn's stand-in, Gretchen, who has also lived in cohousing and tells us why she's looking forward to living in cohousing again.
They also introduce Lynn's radio spot on NPR in Houston when she called in to talk about her "pet peeve" to the monthly "Houston Matters Pet Peeve" program. She talks about her pet peeve that we only seem to experience true neighborliness in Houston when we have a disaster.
Enjoy!
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 17 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika share some of the post-vaccination events now happening face-to-face, or in "3-D" as they call it. They taped several of the community members and explorers answering the question "What is cohousing".
They also give a brief overview of the upcoming Summer Explorer Series, which they describe as a compressed, efficient summer-school-like experience to help people find out if cohousing and this group might be something in their future.
Listen in to find out more and how you can join in.
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 16 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika reflect on when and how neighborliness and connections with people are built. At Kelli's prompting Lynn dialed into Houston's monthly public media spotlight on Pet Peeves and actually got on the show. Her pet peeve is that we seem to only show true neighborliness here in Houston when we have disasters to contend with.
Kelli balances that with all the other points of connection that we lost during COVID and we're concerned may not return. This is where cohousing fits in as a solution!
Listen in to find out more and if you want to hear Lynn's clip on NPR click here and locate the June 7 Show and fast-forward to around minute 13 .
Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 15 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika reflect on all the ways that shared meals contribute to a sense of community and how it appeals to different people for different reasons..
Listen in to find out more. Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 14 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about the Common House.
What is the Common House? What goes on there? How is it managed? Who uses it? What can you expect to experience there as a community member ... and so much more.
Listen in to find out more. Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 13 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika discuss what they've observed about Explorers, who join their community to determine whether this is the right thing for them.
They talk about the clarifying experience for so many Explorers, when they take their due diligence seriously. They figure out their next move. Sometimes it's cohousing in Houston and other times it's something completely different.
Listen in to find out more. Let us know if you have any questions by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 12 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika talk about how they are learning to navigate consensus decisions when they are on the other side of an issue from each other.
They use a recent decision about whether there will be gas ranges in their units and/or in the Common House during which they both surprised themselves and shifted after listening to others in the group.
Listen in to find out more. Maybe you've had a similar experience. Let us know by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 11 Lynn Morstead & Kelli Soika explore what their life would have been like when they had their first child, if they had been living in cohousing instead of a traditional neighborhood.
They each made long-lasting life choices about how to handle the working mother challenge at that time, and speculate whether they would have made different choices if they had been living in a cohousing community.
Listen in to find out more. Maybe you've had a similar experience. Let us know by emailing us at info@cohousinghouston.com.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 10 Lynn & Kelli interview Bryan Bowen, the architect partnering with Kathleen English on our project, about his "jump" into cohousing.
Bryan's interest in the idea of living with others began in his college days but he didn't find an opportunity to make it a reality in his life until his firm began working on a cohousing project. Listen in to hear his story.
We're including a special announcement from Bryan about a new Cohousing Architect Training Program he is launching to train architects on designing for cohousing:
Seeing that practicing architects who understand cohousing can be catalytic in the formation of new communities, and believing that new cohousing communities are important steps toward greater collective sustainability and increased quality of life and resilience for their residents, Bryan Bowen of Caddis Collaborative, and Grace Kim of Schemata Workshop have decided to share what they have learned to help advance the movement. The result is a six-month training program designed for architects or architecture students who want to design community-driven housing skillfully. Applications for the first cohort are due June 4th, 2021.
To learn more about CoHousing Houston refer to www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 9 Lynn & Kelli talk about the cohousing "Explorer" concept. They walk through the steps to becoming an Explorer, what happens after you've signed up and how the membership works with Explorers to help them figure out whether they want to take the next big step to becoming a member.
Find out whether becoming an Explorer might be something for you.
To learn more about CoHousing Houston refer to www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 8 Kelli brings up Lynn's most dreaded of topics for her: "downsizing". Even though it strikes fear and trembling into her heart and she spends a lot of time thinking about it and then not acting on it, Kelli moves her forward. Listen to this first in a series where they are going to talk about Lynn's downsizing experience. She has estimated that she needs to unload approximately 40% of the volume of her possessions to move into cohousing.
How will she do it? Tune in to find out.
To learn more about CoHousing Houston refer to www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 7 Lynn & Kelli continue the conversation about what it takes to "jump" into cohousing by inviting Shelly Parks, the founder of CoVision Consulting, to share her story of jumping into cohousing first as a professional career shift, and then as a personal lifestyle choice.
Shelly began seeking ways to use her experience and skills to be a part of the cohousing movement. She was invited into the 500 Communities program offered by Katie McCamant, a national leader and one of the co-founders of cohousing in the United States. Shelly is now a Certified Cohousing Consultant and an affiliate of Cohousing Solutions. After years of delving deeper into the cohousing movement, Shelly left her management position for a Seattle-area retirement community in early 2017 to focus on CoVision Consulting full-time.
To learn more about CoHousing Houston refer to www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 6 we talk about what does it take for you to make a change? What stops us from changing our status quo to something that would make our life better?
Lynn and Kelli continue their conversation about how we make changes in our lives. Lynn talks about her cohousing "burning platform" drivers and Kelli about her "hold hands and leap" moment with CoHousing Houston.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com
In Episode 5 Lynn & Kelli talk about managing change as it relates to cohousing. They look at what makes change easier and how they are living through this in CoHousing Houston:
- Familiarity
- Connection
- Belonging
They explore how a move to cohousing requires us to make a conceptual shift before we make a physical move. It's sometimes called the upside down development process, because we develop community first and then secondly develop the building.
For more information go to: www.cohousinghouston.com
In Episode 4 Lynn & Kelli talk about the 3 types of Frequently Asked Questions they get about the CoHousing Houston specific design:
1) What we know already - e.g. elevator access, amenities, Common House design, universal access
2) What we don't know yet because not everyone has arrived - e.g., pets, meal frequency, guest room sign up
3) What we don't know yet because we haven't finalize all the details on the design, e.g. final siding decision that will impact reserve and replacement costs, HOA fees - what our buying power could include, quiet hours, etc.
For more information refer to www.cohousinghouston.com.
In Episode 3 Kelli & Lynn talk about three frequently asked questions related to the concept of cohousing:
1. Private Homes - Are they really private and how much privacy do you have
2. What if I don't get along with someone - And what if they don't like me.
3. How is conflict managed - What is different about how conflict arises and is managed inside a cohousing community compared to life outside?
This is Part 1 of a series on the frequently asked questions.
To learn more: www.cohousinghouston.com
In this episode Lynn & Kelli talk about 3 common misconceptions about cohousing:
1. Co-living is the same as Co-housing
2. I'll be overwhelmed with constant, forced socializing
3. It's just the same as a Condo
These are frequently misunderstood by newcomers, who are hearing about cohousing for the first time.
To learn more: www.cohousinghouston.com
In this first pilot episode of the CoHousing Houston Podcast series, hosts Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika reflect on the recent "Snovid" storm that hit Texas February 15th and is still impacting lives in the Houston area two weeks later.
Lynn and Kelli talk about the three areas where their experience of how strength and resiliency in communities show up in a crisis like this.
- First it's the architectural design that goes into mitigating risks
- Second its the pragmatic and practical ways that diverse groups of people are stronger, more capable than any individual on their own
- Third it's the unwritten social contract that we are here for each other; strong communities build a level of trust that supports a crisis like no other group can
To learn more: www.cohousinghouston.com
In this introductory Episode Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika come back after 10 episodes and finally explain what they are up to and who they are. And even give you a high-level overview of the cohousing concept.
Better late than never!
To learn more about CoHousing Houston refer to www.cohousinghouston.com.