Four Rockwood women are creating an alternative living arrangement for those over 55 years of age within the community.
The idea came when Anne Snell and Elisabeth Hines were evaluating their finances and looking at how they would downsize in the future.
“One of the things I did was apply to a three-tiered retirement home and I got turned down on the basis that I didn’t have enough money to stay there long enough to make it worth their while, so to speak,” Snell said. She looked at her finances and figured out they were right.
Hines discovered the idea of co-housing and they created Oak Hill Co-living.
The goal is for six people to co-own a house in Rockwood. Each will be an equal partner and all will make decisions together.
Theoretically, with the shared mortgage and utilities, the cost should be one sixth of owning a detached home.
Hines and Snell were out looking at houses when they saw the location on Richardson Street in Rockwood. They went home, called Janette Ledwith, the owner, and walked right back.
“She opened the door and we had a good talk and she said ‘this sounds really great, it should be here,’” Snell said.
Ledwith said this was “an expression of why I moved to Rockwood.
“I moved from Milton, the busiest town/city and the fastest growing and I decided I wanted to live in a place that was quieter and that I didn’t have a lot of property to look after that offered lots of opportunities,” Ledwith said.
She was looking ahead to the time when she wouldn’t drive and with Rockwood’s grocery store, medical clinic, library, walking trails and transportation by GO transit, she said everything she needed was within walking distance.
Ledwith said she grew up in a home with three generations.
“This may be reverting to something or just evolving into something different where as we’re older and we may have lost a partner or we’ve retired … we may have some equity that can provide for us in the next stage of our life,” she said.
Currently Ledwith’s house is under construction to demolish the interior and construct an addition that will allow for six private bed/sitting rooms with a private bathroom and a shared kitchen, dining room, living room and laundry areas.
While Hines and real estate agent Bonnie Mullen are involved in the project only Ledwith and Snell will live at Oak Hill. The team is currently conducting interviews for the other four owners.
Snell said one of the attractions is that she gets lonely when she lives alone. She likes the idea of having other people at home to interact with and to look out for her and her possessions.
Ledwith agreed.
“I think too there isn’t a lot of viable options for seniors right now,” Mullen said, adding it’s especially difficult for women who may not have pensions.
“I think this is a very healthy way to live,” Ledwith said.
The goal is to have the house completed by the fall.
For more information visit oakhillcoliving.com.
