Living a Happy Life Together in Collective Homes: Part 1
Personally I believe that a good life for all is only possible when we live together in collective
homes. A collective home is a term I use to refer to a home that is built with the purpose to be
shared by several people. The home is built in such way that it contains space for whoever can
pay to stay in it.
Lots of people have a desire to live without worrying about rent. Today, most of us have been
forced to stay in other people’s homes/houses paying rent that eats up much of our hard earned
money. We are not living in our own houses/homes because we cannot raise the required
resources needed to put them up individually.
The trend is one where we struggle in isolation to secure resources that are needed to put up a
home. Some of us realize early on that we cannot save enough cash to construct a home from our
meager incomes. The idea of building a home of our own is put on side for a time when our
incomes are big enough.
The economy does not help us at all. It is in such a way that life keeps on becoming expensive
yet our incomes stay stagnant. As the situation worsens, some of us resort to cheaper houses
which are not fit for our wellbeing. Others end up becoming homeless, something that would not
have happened if we had been able to build a home of our own early on in life.
Collective homes are what we, who are trapped in rentals, need. We are all aware of how easy
building a home can be if we joined hands and built one together. Instead of struggling
individually to secure resources to put a home, we need to struggle together. That way we will be
able to build collective homes that we will stay in together without worrying about getting
thrown out.
Not only will collective homes save us from the threat of becoming homeless but they will make
our life beautiful. Imagining how beautiful life would be if we lived collectively in homes we
built together makes collective homes a worthwhile venture that we should take on
wholeheartedly.
As hinted on above collective homes will help us survive being homeless and/or living in poor
houses. That will be possible because each one of us will part with a small amount of resources
(cash) to put them up. One collective home will be built to offer living space to at least a hundred
plus people. If the a hundred plus people who are to stay in a collective home, provide the
resources to construct it, each one’s contribution will be far less than what s/he would need to put
up a good two bedroom home alone.
I have already highlighted about how one has to struggle to secure resources needed for him/her
to put up a home alone. Here is a detailed breakdown of how serious the struggle is and why
many do not have an opportunity to win. The struggle kicks off with securing land space. To find
one that is located in a neighborhood with access to water, the national grid and other services is
hard.
The price of good prime land space is extremely high. It may be higher than what it will cost to
construct a good home on it. Many people get thrown out at this point. They cannot secure
money for a good piece of land. It’s a problem that people building a collective home will just
walk over. Collective homes will not need vast pieces of land. They will be high rise buildings
that use more of free space than land space. A collective home may only use a piece of land that
four good personal homes of today occupy.
That means one collective home that will have at least a hundred bedrooms will accommodate a
hundred plus people on a piece land that would be used by just about eight people if four
personal homes are constructed on it. Securing land for a collective home is easy because it is
carried out collectively. Remember, it is a task to be done by a hundred people and plus. The
land space needed is as small as land space enough for just four personal homes. Which means a
hundred plus people will be buying the land instead of just four home owners.
I hope you see how easy it is for a hundred plus people to buy a piece of land that was meant for
just four of them.
The community will benefit in so many ways when lots of people get accommodated on small
pieces of land the way collective homes will help them do. Land will become readily available
for other activities. Collective homes will be good for the environment too since more vegetation
will survive being cleared for home construction.
Taking you back to our analysis of the struggle to secure resources for building a personal home;
if one manages to get land, the struggle to secure construction materials kicks in. Constructing a
two bedroom home is a small project. Construction materials for the project will be purchased in
small quantities hence cases of suppliers offering good discounts may not be there. On the other
hand, constructing a collective home is a huge project. Materials will be bought in bulk. That
means suppliers can provide the materials at very good discounts.
Costs will be reduced in so many ways. Transporting materials to a collective home site that will
house hundreds of people will require less fuel and time compared to what is required to
transport materials to personal homes spread all over that are needed to house the same number.
That is the case when transporting furnishing materials to the homes too.
It will be less costly to connect collective homes to water and electricity lines. Materials, labour
and time needed to connect personal homes, meant to house hundreds of people, to water and
electricity are far more compared to what will be needed to connect collective homes meant to
house the same number of people.
Collective homes will be well connected with properly constructed access roads. That will be
possible since each home will be housing hundreds of people who with proper organization can
construct necessary access roads without any problem. The access roads will not cover lots of
kilometers like would be the case if they are connecting two bedroom homes hence lots of
materials will be saved. More vegetation (green spaces) will survive being cleared for access
roads as they (the roads) will be few.
When people are staying in collective homes they use less of almost everything. Let us start by
looking at going to work. It will be very possible for them to share cars. They will have little
love for private cars. At no time will one want to move alone in a car. The opportunity to do so
will be so minimal. There will always be someone to offer a lift whenever one is leaving a
collective home. That will save our cities from congestion and will reduce on green house gases
that are a result of so many cars on the road.
Most domestic chores will be carried out collectively. As we are to later learn, the building of
collective homes will be possible under some organization. The organization must be there to run
the homes. In my writings I will use an imaginary organization I term “the community”. I will
take a detailed look at it in upcoming articles. It will be tasked with ensuring chores in the homes
are carried out perfectly well. That will save us from the wasteful habit of carrying chores on an
individual level where we have no opportunity to enjoy economies of scale.
Take an example of soap and water that gets saved when laundry work for let us say a hundred
plus people is carried collectively. By observation just, one can be able to tell that far less soap
and water gets used when laundry work is carried out collectively compared to what gets used
when each person does his/her own. Using less water and soap is not the only good thing about
carrying out laundry work collectively. We end up with less soapy water to dispose off when we
do so. It (soapy water) will be less and will be properly disposed off than the way it is being
disposed off today. Also, the opportunity to recycle it will be more possible than it is today.
Let us also take a look at what we can save when we prepare our meals collectively. Gas used to
collectively prepare food for a hundred and plus people is far less compared to what gets used
when each one of them prepares food on his/her own. Also where you would have one huge
cylinder of gas, you end with several small ones when each person in his/her home is preparing
his/her own food. It is not only the gas that gets wasted but food too. Less food will be put to
waste when we prepare a meal collectively compared to what gets wasted when each one of us
prepares his/her own.
The good in carrying out chores collectively is not only in form of reduced wastage. It is in form
of many other benefits which we are going to look at starting with benefits possible when the
chore of child/baby care is carried out collectively. It is a chore for mothers mostly. Some of the
mothers have no love for the children/babies that are in their care. The kids grow up being
beaten, harassed and subjected to all kinds of misery. As if that is not enough, they have to do
without most basics they need since those mothers of theirs are normally poor to offer them
anything.
You and I know very well that in most cases it is not okay to leave kids in the hands of their
parents just. Some parents do not have the knowledge and skills needed to help the kids grow up
properly. Others have no the resources needed to ensure the kids are given all that they need as
they grow. Their task is tiresome that most do not keep their babies/children clean and smart.
Those who have money, hire maids to assist them.
They (the maids) take on the parental role which they do in a very unprofessional way. This is
partly because they lack experience in taking care of babies/children and/or because their pay is
not enough to motivate them to do a good job. Stories of what maids do to children whom they
stay with are normally absurd. Parents are aware that maids are not people to leave kids with.
But they do so due to lack of right places where they can leave their kids. These places may be
there but in most cases are too expensive for them.
Like all the other chores in collective homes, taking care of babies/children will be carried out
collectively by the community (the organization that is to run the collective homes). Parents, who
want, may keep it (the community) away from offering care to their children. But it will keep an
eye on them to ensure they take care of their children in ways proved to be appropriate. Most
parents will be happy to let it take over their duties of parenting. They will have every right to
have their children back at anytime they want to.
The community will do a great job in parenting. It will mostly employ mothers who love
children and have time to be there for them. It will train its people and ensure they are equipped
with necessary knowledge and skills needed to offer the babies/children the best parental care
possible. And it will ensure those babies/children get everything they need as they grow up.
To be continued