This is Cohousing | Ep 15 | Reparatory Real Estate & Self-Determined Communal Living with Senait Brown

<p>In this episode, Chuck sits down with Senait Brown of House of Mkeka, an eight-household intergenerational pocket neighborhood being developed by Black families in Seattle. Senait, a community organizer and single parent, shares how her community chose what they call &quot;self-determined communal living&quot;: pooling their collective net worth and pursuing grants, donations, and community resources rather than taking on thirty-year mortgages or accepting the AMI and resale caps of conventional affordable housing.The conversation moves from the practical to the profound. Senait explains their &quot;reparatory real estate&quot; model as a direct response to redlining, foreclosure, and generations of exclusion from the wealth-building tools other Americans took for granted. She and Chuck trade hard-won strategies for finding land in a tight market — from faith-based land initiatives and city surplus sites to the biases that persist even when the money is in hand. In one striking moment, Senait recounts a fully funded land deal that fell through simply because a seller didn&#39;t want to see a Black community empowered, and why they refused to put a white face out front to make it easier.They also dig into what makes cohousing actually work: designing decision by decision rather than brick by brick, the pre-development &quot;healing work&quot; that funders overlook, parking and car-free design, and what Senait calls &quot;Afro security&quot; — designing for protection and belonging in light of the community&#39;s history. Woven throughout are the principles guiding the project, from Kwanzaa to Ubuntu — &quot;I am because we are&quot; — and Muhammad Ali&#39;s two-word poem, &quot;Me, We.&quot;A wide-ranging, hopeful conversation about building community as, in Senait&#39;s words, an act of revolution.</p><p><br></p><p>Learn more about House of Mkeka: https://www.houseofmkeka.org/</p><p><br></p><p>#Cohousing #SeniorCohousing #Community #Belonging #Loneliness #AgingWell #IntentionalCommunity</p><p>For more info visit ⁠<a href="www.cohousingco.com">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.cohousingco.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a>⁠ or <a href="https://linktr.ee/CohousingCo">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/CohousingCo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/cohousing/">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/cohousingco_01/">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/cohousingco">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@charlesdurrett9954">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/CohousingCo_01">⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠</a></p></li></ul><p><em>Bossa Antigua</em> Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</p>