Let's make a senior living co-op.

The word retirement gets thrown around a lot, but it means different things to different people. For me, I'm retired when I stop working and when living in a house of my own is too much for me. And I've thought a lot about what I want that life to look like.

My dream is to retire to a nonprofit cooperative housing complex that is dedicated to residents 65 and over. But I hope I don't have to move to such until I'm about 80.

The Statement on the Cooperative Identity states that a cooperative is an "autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-controlled enterprise."

The retirement cooperative I envision would be made up of residents 65 and older, who would own a piece of the cooperative through a yearly membership fee and their payment of rent.

Each dwelling would be one or two bedroom, for one person or for two people; those two people could be a married couple, or unmarried companions, or just friends.

So long as a person is able-bodied enough to go to the bathroom by themselves, whenever they need to, they would meet the physical requirements of living in the cooperative.

This would be a place where people could live as active a life as they want and are able to, and could live with as much assistance they need (and can pay for), short of 24 hour assistants/medical care.

Subletting would be absolutely forbidden.

The cooperative would have a commitment to accessibility: the ground floor of all structures, as well the pathways on the grounds, would be fully accessible for wheel chairs (grab bars and ADA compliant toilets in the bathrooms, the TV in the common room would always have closed captioning on unless there is a unanimous decision by the people currently watching to turn them off, etc.).  

Rent would include utilities.

Residents would be required to have cell phone service and Internet service, and a working phone number and a working email address.

Residents would have to be in good standing with the IRS, have a decent credit rating and not owe child support.

The cooperative would:

• be made up of fully accessible ground floor apartments (and perhaps upstairs apartments as well, for more mobile residents) and/or a series of tiny homes. Each apartment or home would have one or two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, a small eating space and a tiny kitchen and a dedicated outdoor space for each apartment for the residents to sit outside, for a small container garden, etc., and a small storage shed or a designated, fenced area in an onsite storage barn. It could be a converted one-story motel. 
  

• have space for one car to park immediately next to a residence. 
   
• be a place where each home would either come equipped with or have room for a microwave, a refrigerator, a toaster oven, a crock pot, a coffee machine, and maybe a dishwasher. 
   
• be a place where all homes and buildings would be connected by wheelchair accessible sidewalks.
   
• have a community hall with a commercial kitchen, piano, large TV with an excellent sound system, a pool table, a table shuffleboard, etc., where residents could gather to watch things together on TV, play video games on the TV together, to eat together, socialize, etc. The hall could also be rented out for weddings, family events or community events (for a fee).
   
• have a community garden, a large, fully fenced in chicken co-op (residents would consume what's produced, and extra would be sold or given away to a food bank).
  

• have a community compost project, with compost used in the community garden and in containers residents may have in their outdoor private space.
  

• have a bunk house or rentable cottage, or both, for family or friends visiting for more than three days, or that prefer to stay in such during their visit (rather than with the resident). Limit 14 day stay. Rent would be charged for staying in such.
  

• allow pets, but have limits on the number of such.

• have a small fenced area for dogs to run unleashed.

• have a paved trail around the entire grounds where residents can walk, including walking with their leashed dogs.

• have lots of trees and other landscaping, with an eye to xeroscaping and NOT having lots of lawn to maintain.

• have an attractive outdoor common area with benches, chairs and tables.
  

Events the co-op would host for residents:

• Community sing-alongs.
• Small concerts and other performances (schools and small groups are often happy to donate performances).
  
• Group movie or live sport viewings.
• Presentations by police on elder abuse, on scams targeting seniors, etc.
  
• Presentations by the fire department or other public health organization regarding emergency preparedness.
• Exercise classes led by a volunteer or via a video or DVD.
• In cooperation with other organizations, free language classes, free dance classes, free money management classes, religious services, etc.
  
• Food truck visits.
• Tax prep clinics.
  

A cooperative resident would be free to:

• hire someone to clean their apartment
• cook whatever they want/can manage
• hire someone to do their laundry
• hire someone to cook for them
• enroll in Meals on Wheels
• subscribe to any streaming service
• go offsite whenever they wish, arranging transportation themselves, whether that's to the grocery or a casino or two weeks in Cabo - whatever.
  
• book taxis, ride shares, etc.
  
• NOT attend cooperative events, social events, or activities other than co-op member meetings

In short, cooperative residents can be as independent as they want to be and can manage, residents can control how they want to spend their days, etc.

The co-op would have a full-time, 35-hour-a week paid manager and rotating after-hours staff. The manager or other employees or volunteers, would:

• Maintain all financial records.
• Maintain and oversee all records regarding money paid by residents.
• Interact with all government inspectors and fully cooperate with such.
  
• Ensure public health laws are followed at the facility.
  
• Check the door of each residency at 8 or 9 a.m. and at 5 p.m. - residents must use an agreed-to signal posted outside their door to indicate they are well at those times (in many senior apartment complexes, this is just a large disk or chip that is turned on a hook at the start and end of each day by the resident).
• Arrange for regular visits by the public libraries book mobile.
• Arrange transportation twice a month for an off-site event for residents: attendance to a play, concert, movie, festival or lecture, visiting a scenic park, visiting a museum, etc. (admission fees have to be paid by the residents; a fee for transportation may also be charged)
  
• Arrange for a partnership with agricultural or biology students at a nearby highschool, college or university, or with 4-H, the Girl Scouts, etc., to maintain the chickens and to support the community garden.
• Arrange for and oversee onsite events (see above)
• Hire and supervise services for grounds maintenance, as needed.
• Hire and supervise services regarding plumbing, electricity, etc.
  
• Hire and supervise services to provide residents with bedding changes and bedding laundry once a week (cost included in the rent residents pay)
• Screen and recommend individuals to provide services that residents can pay for rather than doing themselves, including laundry and apartment cleaning.
  
• Regularly reach out to communities of faith and nonprofits about possible partnerships, transportation to their events, etc.
  
• Recruit, screen and oversee volunteers that may assist in any of the above activities.
  
• Notify appropriate officials regarding suspected elder abuse.
• Notify family members and any authorities required if the staff and other cooperative members have determined that a resident can no longer stay at the cooperative (for lack of payment, for policy violation, because the person can no longer go to the bathroom by themselves as needed, etc.).

The manager would work five days a week. Evening, overnight and weekend staff would all be part time. Shifts could vary. For instance, there may be someone who workes a 24 hours shift every week, from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday. There may be someone else who works Monday through Thursdays 3 to 10 p.m. and someone else might work those same days overnight.

Each resident would pay a yearly, non-refundable co-op membership fee.

Each resident would also be required to pay three months rent to move in. The amount equal to one month's rent would be the security deposit, the rest would cover the first two month's rent. Residents would need to pay rent monthly, meaning they have always paid rent two months in advance, and with 60 days notice of departure, they would be permitted to use this amount for the last two months of rent. With 30 days notice, they would be be refunded one month's rent if they depart within that 30 days.

Each renter would have to have up-to-date renter's insurance.

30 days notice must be given by the third day of the month of departure; 60 days notice must be given by the third of the month previous to the month of departure.

Some of the rules residents would agree to, on penalty of fines and/or eviction:

• a code of conduct that prohibits harassment, stalking, creating a hostile or unsafe environment in common spaces, etc., and that details grounds for removal from the cooperative, such as a conviction for certain crimes (domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, murder, etc.)
  

• there will be monthly resident meetings and at least one person from the residence will attend at least six of the meetings a year. Remote attendance via video would be allowed.
  

• limit overnight guests to three nights in a row, with at least 30 days between that guest or those guests staying overnight again.
  

• all residents must receive an annual flu and annual COVID-19 vaccination, unless exempted by a doctor.

• all residents must agree to follow county, state and federal health guidelines with regard to epidemics and pandemics.
   
• limit on pets. TBD. Two pets, and pets can be two dogs, one dog and one cat, two gerbils, two birds, one dog and one rabbit, etc.?
   
• dogs and cats must be fixed. Other animals must not be allowed to reproduce.
  

• dogs must be fully registered with the county.

• dogs must be on a leash, with a human on the other end, any time outside the home, except in the small dog run (and the owner must be present at all times if their dog(s) is there).
  

• all animals must have up-to-date vaccines.
   
• limits on the size of fish tanks. 
   
• no smoking of any kind inside any residence or structure on the premises. Residents can smoke in a designated, cover outdoor area.
  

• no noise from within an apartment that can be heard outside of that apartment from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.

• residents help clean up after on-site events, if the resident attended such.

Co-op member meetings would review rules, review and discuss rule violations, negotiate resolutions, mediate disagreements and recommend actions to the staff.

A resident could be evicted for

• non-payment of rent or other fees, including a certain amount of fines 
• what co-op members feel is an egregious violation of policies, such as harassing another resident, frequent health code violations, etc.; such violations must be documented, with dates
• violation of the pet policty
• a certain and high number of noise or smoking violations
• conviction for certain crimes (domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, murder, etc.)