In a country where many don't know their neighbours, Laxmi and Dinesh Sanders want to do things differently.
Ms Sanders is from a small village in Nepal, and wanted to raise her kids in a similar environment where neighbours lend each other a hand.
"I want my children to have those sort of experiences, like going to neighbours and having meals together," she said.
So when Mr Sanders's cousin told the couple about the Urban Coup, a co-housing project taking up an eight-storey apartment building in Brunswick in Melbourne's inner north, they leapt at the chance to buy in.
"Different people have different experiences in their life, and each one is able to give that experience to the kids," Mr Sanders said.
The residents steered the development of the apartment building, and facilities and shared spaces are managed by the community.
Each of the 29 households has their own small apartment, with bedrooms, bathrooms, small kitchens and living spaces.
Shared spaces for the development include a kitchen and dining area — where residents will cook and share communal meals — laundry, guest rooms, outdoor spaces, music room and workshop.
Co-housing refers to an "intentional community" living in a collection of private homes, accompanied by communally owned shared spaces.
These developments are being built all over the country, with the aim of living sustainably and socially. This means cost of living for the occupants is reduced, as resources are shared, items are bought in bulk, and environmentalism is often at the heart of building design.
With the number of adults around the place, there is usually someone to look after kids Kobe and Austin, meaning the family can save on childcare costs.
"There were five or six adults with the two kids the other day, and they did some painting and then colouring," Ms Sanders said.
For Alex Fearnside, Mr Sanders's cousin and one of the founders of the Urban Coup, co-housing has been a long-term dream.
"Fourteen years ago, I was one of a handful of people who sat around a kitchen table saying there's got to be a better way of living in Melbourne — can't buy it, so let's create it," Mr Fearnside said.
"Most of the people who are moving into the Urban Coup wanted to downsize and wanted a simpler life and wanted a deeper connection with community.
Making a place to 'thrive as an older person'
Mary-Faeth Chenery, 73, is part of a group of senior women in the process of setting up a co-housing project in Daylesford, north-west of Melbourne, called "WINC — Older Women in Cohousing".
It will have a common house, shared guest rooms, a workshop, and small individual units.
Through sharing resources and energy — which will be generated through solar panels — Ms Chenery said living costs will be lower than in traditional housing.
And as a group of mostly lesbian women, Ms Chenery said most of them did not have children to look after them as they aged.
"Some of us don't have family and need to think about how we're going to thrive as an older person," she said.
Ms Chenery grew up in the US, where she ran camps for children and later senior adults which inspired her to create a living space centred around community.
She said COVID-19 lockdowns showed a lot of people that living away from their community was mentally damaging.
Census data from 2021, released in June, revealed 15 per cent of those who live alone have a mental health condition such as anxiety or depression.
In comparison, only 8 per cent of people living with family and 7 per cent of those who live in a household with two or more families have a mental health condition.
Housing support for women facing financial hardship
For Maria Bamford, 70, the idea of co-housing was appealing, but she never thought she would be able to afford it.
"I thought: 'I can't be part of that, I can't afford to buy in there'," she said.
But WINC wanted to be able to offer housing to those with limited assets.
They plan to offer a few social housing spots for women on the public housing register, as well as places for "middle women" — women with too many assets to be eligible for social housing, but who would struggle to get a mortgage.
The group devised a shared equity model, where those with greater resources invest in a portion of the homes of middle women to reduce the costs they have to pay. They hope the state government will also chip in.
As someone with limited assets, Ms Bamford is eligible for subsidised housing. She said models like this could help prevent women like her from falling into homelessness.
"It's scary, the middle women who are at high risk of homelessness, middle women who are living out on the road, in vehicles, et cetera," she said.
"I'm an educated woman, university trained, had a career.
"But there's life circumstances — we live in a patriarchal society — structural issues that get in the way, and create these risks for some women, and I'm one of them."
Ms Bamford, who is currently living with Ms Chenery in her Daylesford home, said she was eager to live amongst women she saw as her community.
"I got excited at the possibility of living collectively, collaboratively, alongside more of my tribe," she said.
Growing interest in co-housing in Australia
Louise Crabtree-Hayes, who researches community-driven housing at Western Sydney University, said the co-housing movement was growing in Australia
"It's a very small section of the housing market, but we are starting to see increased interest in the establishment of co-housing projects," she said.
While it is hard to say exactly how many co-housing projects there are across the country, 36 are registered through Cohousing Australia.
Modern co-housing started in the 1970s in Denmark, where there are hundreds of co-housing residences, and soon spread to become a popular housing option in the US.
Dr Crabtree-Hayes said there were numerous economic, environmental and social benefits to co-housing.
"If a co-housing community is able to say, bulk buy energy, bulk buy their food, then you can see some of those cost-of-living issues start to be addressed," she said.
She said co-housing was particularly useful to families wanting to reduce childcare costs and older, single women seeking companionship.
"We've got a growing demographic of older women — older single women in particular — with limited access to assets, and showing increased interest in wanting to access these sorts of models," she said.
Dr Crabtree-Hayes said the model was probably less risky than traditional housing, given the design of the projects is usually done collaboratively among residents.
"In some ways, they're arguably more safe than traditional arrangements, because there is a greater focus on explaining things because of the relative unfamiliarity of the models," she said.
'It just makes sense'
Mr Sanders said while co-housing was "a slightly alternative sort of idea", it could be a way to break down communication barriers between neighbours and form a community.
"I think someone has to have a go at it, and once we have a go at it, and we can see what works and what doesn't, then it's easier for other people to take it to the next level," he said.
Mr Fearnside said he hopes the Urban Coup can become a model for others to set up their own communal living arrangements.
He said while co-housing was not a "silver bullet for housing affordability at the moment", it offered residents a chance to keep living costs down.
"It's all becoming unaffordable."
