Topics covered:

• HomeShare for Her

• Cooperative Living

• Easier, clearer Tiny Home on Wheels policy

• How I can help your group/organisation/project

• Homefullness Show—looking for guests and other episodes

HomeShare for Her: Facilitating relationships and match-making for successful rental home sharing.

In our latest Homefullness episode, I interview Chloe Howorth on the HomeShare for Her program located in the Nelson-Tasman region of Aotearoa NZ.

The program addresses the lack of affordable housing and the lack of available housing for single women. Because, according to a Stuff article in April 2023, it says “low wages and expensive housing make the Nelson Tasman area unaffordable” with our housing being the third worst in the country, with some people spending over 50% of their income on housing.

But the other thing that the programme does is it mitigates the problems that can come up when people share a living space together.

You might've seen the program on Netflix called the Worst Roommate Ever. That's enough to make you to never want to have a roommate, pretty gruesome stories.

I, as well, have my own roommate horror story where I eventually took the owner of the home where my son and I were renting to the Office of Human Rights Proceedings to sort out the racism that my son (of African ethnicity) experienced while living in her house with her, where we were renting two rooms.

So, HomeShare for Her hopes to mitigate those kinds of very traumatic experiences, as well as help women have the best possible shared living situation, sharing the home in a way that's equal, where everyone living there feels like the house really is their home.

This a programme that could be replicated in other regions so listen in to learn about how it's done.

That's what we're going to talk about today in our story about HomeShare for Her.

Links mentioned in the show:

https://homeshareforher.nz/

https://www.williamsamuels.co.nz/

https://www.commonground.net.nz/

Click below or on your favourite podcast app.

Cooperative Living—Get the social systems right!

We held our third Cooperative Living learning and networking event on 24 November at Riverside Community Hall.  Our topic was showing the different community-focused housing models (cohousing, cooperative housing, community land trusts and ecovillages) and showcasing some successful examples of each.  We then had a networking time for people with land, finance, or project ideas to make themselves known and others in the room could ask questions and connect.

The purpose of this event series is to build people’s knowledge and skills on the theme of cooperative living, particularly creating housing communities, understand the challenges to this (finance, policy, planning, etc) and facilitating networking between participants to foster some new housing projects.

According to the book, Creating a Life Together, by Diana Leafe Christian, 90% of housing/community projects fail to get fully established.  There are a wide number of reasons but the main factor is conflict and social dynamics, with group members unable to resolve the social and conflict matters.

Alignment of vision and values is key for groups just starting out as well as skills in collaborative decision-making and conflict resolution.

Here is a link to some recommended reading on compassionate communication and dealing with conflict: https://bookshop.org/lists/conflict-resolution?%3Fnew-list-page=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

If you would like me to run a live or virtual event on cooperative living for your community or help you with a cooperative living project idea, book a time for us to explore how I can help you specifically.

A council policy that creates clarity and ease for Tiny Home on Wheels (THOW) owners & those leasing land

You may be aware of a housing crisis of unaffordability and lack of appropriate housing choices and that many people are finding a way to house themselves by living in a THOW—sometimes their only option.  You might also be aware of the lack of housing policy to respond to specific nature of THOW—that they are mobile and usually not on the title of the land they are situated on.  This creates confusion for councils on how to deal with them regarding consenting.

I read in the Tiny House Hub newest magazine edition that the Western Bay of Plenty District Council (WBPDC) has created a way of helping council officers to know how to deal with cases of THOW—if no action needs to be taken (in two scenarios) or whether a consent or what type of consent might be needed (in two other scenarios).  This creates a clear path for those uncertain about how their tiny home and its set up on the land relates to the consenting requirement.

This is what THOW organisations and owners have been requesting for years.  The lack of such clarity has resulted in people who are already housing stressed to experience forced removal, separation from their place of belonging, unnecessary consenting or legal costs, living in fear, etc.

This is a win for THOW owners and those leasing land to THOW owners that now needs to be replicated to all the other councils.

What can you do?

·       Download and read over the WBPDC THOW policy

·       Make a meeting with the head of your local council planning department to share with them about the policy and request their consideration

·       Make a meeting with the Mayor and/or considerate councillors to urge their staff to consider the policy

·       Host a public meeting to let the public know about this policy and also to advocate to their council for it.  Perhaps get a petition going.

·       Share it through your socials and local media.

·       Follow up with the staff and councillors on those first meetings to check progress.

How I can help you:

Council and provider housing strategy for affordable and regenerative housing

Check out my page of services here.

Land-share/housing mentorship & facilitation

Are you looking to share land or create a housing project with others? 

I offer mentorship and facilitation of group visioning online or in person. 

Compassionate Communication: Increasing Cooperation and Reducing Conflict for Teams and Workplaces

I offer workshops for teams, groups, and organisations in communication techniques that increase cooperation and that reduce conflict and that help to work through conflict in supportive and productive ways.

Homefullness Show: Change-making conversations on housing for people and planet

I’m looking for more guests to be interviewed on the show:

Topics could include: housing affordability, innovative policies, community-led and collective housing models, interesting building methods, place-making strategies, legal and financial models, real life stories of living in alternative housing, etc.

Check out all our previous episodes on topics related to finance, policy, affordability, housing for women, and more.