Reading Jess’ notice in Interaction last year I was jumping up and down with excitement…. okay, so the jumping part was just in my head but that counts, right? I couldn’t believe someone else had a similar idea to mine born from my experiences of living with M.E. and the negative impact traditional housing had had on it. I’ve lived with M.E. for over 30 years and over that time I’ve been fortunate to experience 4 types of traditional housing.

1) Private rental in the UK

2) Private rental abroad

3) Social Housing

4) Living with my parents who have become my carers.

Each option has come with compromises and these, for me, have caused relapses and a deterioration in my health. Medicine and research have quite rightly been theforemost focus but housing is of equal importance and can make a huge difference when done right. I know many people who like me, have had to rely on family to care for them. Inevitably we all get older and when the people you have relied on become ill themselves life gets much, much harder. Major decisions have to be made. Family homes are sold whilst some people are left to cope in them alone; both courses of action causing huge struggles for people already chronically ill.

What this project means to me.

This project has made me feel valued and given me a voice because no matter how ill we are, each one of us has something we can contribute to it. This year has been particularly difficult for me and due to family circumstances and relapses, I couldn’t participate for many, many months but Jess has been able to reach out to new people and kept it slowly growing. I am so grateful that she had the courage to start this off and for her resilience and determination. She’s right. People living with energy limiting chronic illnesses are some of the most resilient people you could meet. Thereis strength in numbers and this project has demonstrated that so wonderfully to me.

What does co-housing mean to me? 

It’s a nurturing and supportive environment where I can just be myself with no need for explanations or defence of my lifestyle. A place I am accepted, understood and believed because we all deserve that. It will consist of individual dwellings to accommodate each person’s particular mix of symptoms and severities. It will also provide a place for respite care; something many of us desperately need and I know there were times I certainly did myself. In short, it will be an environment that other people dealing with life-changing illnesses get to experience all the time but many people living with M.E. and other energy limiting conditions rarely find. Once it is up and running, it can be reproduced in different parts of the country and even abroad. 

Another co-housing project

Another example of a cohousing project isNew Ground (OWCH) Cohousing. I read an article on them many years ago that got me thinking this was the solution I had been looking for.