Case 5 from Germany Amaryllis Co-operative Society ... - ICA Housing

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Staying with children 25 % 30 % Senior citizens residence 44 % 24 % Rearrange current dwelling 34 % 41 % 35 The search is on for new forms of joint dwellings like multi-generation dwellings preferred in comparison with the classical model of shared flats with a common kitchen and bathroom. The demand for multi-generation housing is growing (between 2005 and 2006 by 50 percent). Today, most elderly people do not want to be taken to senior citizen residences with stationary care. They want to live in a community, see what happens outside, communicate with others and visit one another. The problem is to find the right social distance between neighbours. Professional advice in this regard may be beneficial. The attitude of persons living in such multi-generation settlements should be: “We do not live here to help others, but we do so to meet our own needs”. In such housing projects, the question of ownership is important. Individual ownership of dwellings encourages egoism. Planning for flexibility is equally important. Flats have to be built in such a way that one large flat can be converted into two small flats plus guest apartment. Such designs have been developed by architects specialized in designing multi-generation houses for heterogeneous groups of inhabitants, e.g. an old villa can be subdivided into 11 tworoom apartments plus 300 m 2 of common space. In this case, 11 ladies aged between 69 and 85 years live in a self-organised housing community. The old villa was offered by the city government to be used free of charge for a period of 25 years, provided that the cost of renovation (€ 1 million) were covered by the inhabitants. A loan taken for this purpose by the residents is paid back by a supplement to the monthly rent. Need to make a choice in time For elderly people living in their old large flats or houses, the moment comes when these flats become too large and living becomes too lonely. When moving into smaller flats this means to leave the well known environment and most of the old furniture behind, one had for the past decades. The Amaryllis project The leading idea of Amarillys is: When getting old one should not live alone, but rather together with others. This can be achieved by moving into a multigeneration-project. The first step was to join an association of persons with similar needs – the Amaryllis Association, formed by three couples in Bonn in the 1990s. The object of this association was to allow old and young persons with and without
36 children to live under one roof. When launching the idea, more applications to join were received than could be accepted. More than a decade later, the association was converted into a co-operative society and started to build multi-generation dwellings in form of three two-story houses for a total of 66 inhabitants including 20 children. The aim of the Amaryllis co-operative society is to offer its members a form of living together that reaches beyond generations and allows persons of all ages to live together. Dwellings without barriers are combined with modern ecological standards of saving energy (central heating with wood pellets, car-sharing). A special design of the houses helps to generate good relations with neighbours. In the first floor, doors from the living rooms lead to a balcony around the entire house linking all flats. In the ground floor, flats are linked by a common terrace. In this way the distance between neighbours is kept small. The new settlement is perceived as a kind of village, allowing communication across generation limits, encouraging to help others and to be helped in case of need. This is seen as an alternative to stationary care in a senior citizens residence, where old persons are locked up and kept away from normal social contacts. It meets the desire of old persons to be able to continue to live in their own flat even in case of sickness and need of care. The idea is to allow selfdetermined living as long as possible. Members of the Amaryllis co-operative society work in the organisation on an honorary basis. Every member holds an office in the co-operative society. They plan the new houses and administer the community together. E.g. every Tuesday there is a plenary meeting of all inhabitants in which attendance is compulsory. These meetings are used to spread information, to find solutions for common problems and to settle disputes. There is no need to do everything together. Each inhabitant can withdraw into his/her own flat. However, there is the chance to do many things together. The co-operative serves as a net which supports and empowers the individual. Such organisation cannot be composed only of old people needing help. Membership has to be a mix of young and old persons. It has to be a multi-generation project. In the case of the Amaryllis co-operative society it was decided to build new houses financed by a loan from a co-operative bank rather than looking for old houses. To provide collateral security, the members had to find guarantors for part of the loan among relatives and friends. The principal motto of the co-operative society is: To be interested to live in a community based on binding rules. This includes: • Joint planning of the rules for the new social order of living together, • Be prepared for mutual aid in day-to-day living,
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Case 5 from Germany Amaryllis Co-operative Society ... - ICA Housing

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