British Columbia’s independent online magazine, The Tyee, posted a lengthy article a couple months ago on the advantages of collective living, profiling the Mackenzie Heights Collective.
Currently housing five adults (ranging in age from mid-20s to mid-40s) and a toddler, the Collective is a model of shared-resources commitment. “We’ve got 2,700 square feet in the house that none of us could afford individually,” says Colin Van Uchelen, who has lived in the house since 1993.
“One family would have filled this whole house rather than five adults. We don’t need more than one lawnmower, one drill, one shovel, one BBQ. We each contribute 29 dollars a month in a shared fund, and that fund is used to buy things of benefit to us all, things that contribute to all our well-being and are communal property.”
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The cornerstone of a shared living model is rooted in the intertwined benefits of practical savings and social enrichment. The garden at the Mackenzie house — featuring salad greens, peas, beans, squash, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, leeks, and herbs — doesn’t just allow grocery savings, but provides an opportunity for group effort that benefits the collective.
Read the full article here.
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