What Makes Shared Houses Sustainable?
So what stops us? Why isn’t there in every street at least one if not two houses where a number of older women share the house? What would it take for such houses to be sustainable? There are three factors I know of. One is communication, another, design, and the third is how I get my money out when I leave the house. Communication To make this notion of shared houses work, the residents must be able and willing to communicate with each other, even when difficulties arise: particularly when difficulties arise. It can be called the ‘three women in a kitchen’ dynamic. To mention this brings horror in some circles. “Three women in a kitchen! How can that be?” The OECD report “Women in the City’ says that one reason why so many women live alone is the striving for greater control and autonomy in their lives.” I agree and see this is the inevitable outcome of better paid jobs, women leaving marriages and the move to equality for women. For some, living alone in her own house is a highly des
