In this special episode of the Homefullness Show, host Zola Rose sits down for an engaging interview with her daughter Oriah, a law student at Otago University in New Zealand.

They explore Oriah's unique upbringing in an off-grid homestead in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.

Topics include their unconventional home setup with indoor and outdoor 'loos,' the transition from a suburban lifestyle to a self-sufficient homestead, their meaningful rituals and traditions, the "free learning" style of education, and living surrounded by wild animals.

The discussion also touches on the broader community involvement through the Woofing program, their intercultural interactions with the local Zulu community, and the various sustainable practices they adopted and shared with schools and visitors.

The episode offers rich insights into intentional off-grid living, the importance of community, and holistic education.

00:26 Visiting My Daughter in Dunedin

01:22 Introduction to the Homefullness Show

02:13 Special Guest: My Daughter Oriah

02:24 Our Unique Upbringing in KwaZulu Natal

04:54 Holistic Home Environment

06:41 Family Traditions and Rituals

10:13 Learning and Growing on the Farm

13:25 Eco-Friendly Practices and Innovations

25:35 Coexisting with Snakes

26:26 Wildlife Visitors at the Homestead

29:13 Common Ground Consulting Agency--our services

30:11 Sustainable Living Systems

32:13 Fire Management on the Homestead

36:28 The Woofing Program Experience

40:25 Building and Living in Yurts

42:54 Interacting with the Zulu Community

45:22 Reflections on a Unique Upbringing

48:33 Upcoming Events and Announcements (for those living in Aotearoa NZ)

Sophie, a public works advisor at Land Information New Zealand, discusses her PhD in law, focusing on achieving housing affordability through collective housing, and cooperative housing in particular.

The conversation covers various aspects, including the lack of research and public awareness on collective housing in New Zealand, her personal experiences with different housing systems in Europe, and the role of local and central governments in addressing the housing crisis.

Sophie emphasizes the need for legal reforms to support cooperative housing structures and discusses her findings on the limitations of the unit title structure for collective housing and how finance and funding is blocked without the legislation for cooperative housing.

The discussion also touches on potential influences from European and Australian models, and the importance of incorporating the “right to housing” into domestic law. The interview ends with Sophie’s aspirations for housing in New Zealand and recommendations for further reading and resources on cooperative housing.

Links

Sophie’s research: https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/items/e546de2f-eddb-400c-8bc5-5bffb1c04651

Common Ground: https://commonground.net.nz

CoHoHui: https://www.cohohui.com/

The Housing Innovation Society: https://thehousinginnovationsociety.com/

Time stamps

In the latest episode of the Homefullness Show, I interview Trypp West, the founder of an urban community called Springfed in Boulder, Colorado (USA). He describes the founding of Springfed, a community that started as his thesis project and has continued for the past three years. The community operates on a non-residential model with the meeting place being his rented farmhouse where they hold fortnightly potlucks and Sunday gardening days to foster social bonds and teach self-sufficiency.

The five take-aways from this interview are:

Community Impact:

The intentional community has profoundly impacted individuals, helping those suffering from depression and disconnection. Members express deeply personal benefits and emotional support from the community, which enhances their sense of belonging and life purpose.

Concept of Homefullness:

"Homefullness" is described as the feeling of being able to rely on and connect with people around you. It emphasizes the importance of interrelatedness and creating a supportive environment that fosters a sense of home.

Development and Leadership:

The community, initiated as a thesis project, has continued to thrive for years. The leadership promotes shared roles and responsibilities, empowering members to take on leadership roles and contributing to the evolution of the community. Leadership includes facilitating conflict resolution and ensuring equitable participation.

Ecological and Social Activities:

Key activities include bi-weekly potlucks that strengthen social bonds, garden days that teach and involve members in sustainable practices, and various thematic events that encourage community engagement and personal growth.

Measuring Success and Future Vision:

Success is measured qualitatively through heartfelt feedback from members rather than formal metrics. The community prioritizes emotional and social well-being through personal testimonies and shared experiences. Future visions include potentially expanding to a more residential model while continuing to foster inclusive and cooperative community practices.

Resources mentioned in episode:

Common Ground: https://commonground.net.nz

CrowsFlyInPairs.com (poetry book)

Upstream, podcast on socialist economics

Iron John, book by Robert Bly on masculinity

Returning to the Teachings by Rupert Ross

Less is More by Jason Hickel

Trypp's email: onatrypp@gmail.com

Zola's: zola@commonground.net.nz

 Gentle density is a term in Australia for infill housing development in urban areas, to create more housing within existing neighbourhoods, also known as incremental development in the U.S.

In this episode, I interview Mark and Lynda Utting on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland Australia. They share about their way of developing housing in their backyard to give a great place to live to the future residents.

They are able to do this because their area has been rezoned to medium density, meaning they've been given permission to build up to nine units in their backyard.

A lot of people get worried when they hear "density" and infill development because downsides can include shade blocking out nearby houses, it might not match the character of the original neighborhood, too many cars parked on the road, etc.

Yet, Mark and Lynda have come up with a land-use and housing design that I think few would have problems with. They have kept it to four new dwellings because they are prioritising quality of life for their residents and more sustainable and environmental outcomes.

This is a great interview because it showcases how density and infill development can be done better. They speak about the challenges of being lay-developers (not professional) but also the joy and opportunity of learning new skills and knowledge, of creating a sense of belonging to place, and the resources they've found helpful in their endeavour. Visit their instagram page to see what that can look and function like.

We speak to the need for Councils to give incentives for infill development that prioritises better social, environmental, and affordability outcomes rather than the usual profit motive of conventional developers. And that councils can give assistance or support to lay developers to achieve these better outcomes.

So have a listen to this episode about what gentle density and better infill development can look like and how to do it.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Mark & Lynda's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gentledensity/

Undercover Architect: https://undercoverarchitect.com/

Renew: https://renew.org.au/

Strong Towns: https://www.strongtowns.org/

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

The Sharing with Friends housing model was born out of a burning desire for housing justice for single older women who are in the "missing middle"--who do not qualify for social housing but also can't afford market rental or to buy their own home and who are living on the edge of housing insecurity.

The unique co-housing model provides an affordable, secure, and connected way of living where five women, who self-select, share a specifically designed house which offers privacy and automony while also a sense of community, having spaces for shared meals and activities.

I interview Susan Davies and Adrienne Irvine, founders of the Sharing with Friends Foundation about how they formed the foundation and fund the development, how the programme gives women agency by through workshops that empowers them to design how they will live together, and how the model can be replicated throughout Australia and other countries.

https://www.sharingwithfriends.org/

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

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 in our region, 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.

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/

If you're frustrated by the amount of rates that you pay and the increasing rates that many councils are doing, you are not alone. Many people complain, “councils, all they care about is money.” And yet, they have increasing expenses & responsibilities to pay for with less income--a gap that's been widening over decades. The amount of income that they're able to generate through rates is not covering all the things they're responsible for. So, what is the solution?

Well, we've got Nick Clark, with the NZ Initiative, on to explain to us how the new policy he's proposing called Revenue Share for Housing could work. He says it could clear most council debt and create new income streams for local councils. The benefit is that there'll be more money to be able to support new housing construction and the infrastructure needed for that and rates hopefully won't continue to increase.

So how does this work? Well, we're going to explain about it in this episode, but the basics are that: A portion of the GST that's collected by central government from local councils on new builds would be given back to the councils.

This is really a game changer, so listen in to hear about this policy that could increase the amount of income your counsel is able to generate to create new housing in your area and that might even stabilize the rates.

In this interview with Greer O'Donnell of The Housing Innovation Society (THIS) and The Urban Advisory (TUA), I speak with her about a growing demographic in housing--the missing middle--as well the increase in people who wish to have more say in the kinds of housing that they want to create and how they want to live in that housing. The New Zealand Housing Survey was created to be able to capture this information.

We speak about the kinds of housing that we could have and how you, the listener, by taking part in the survey, can help define the diversity of the choices in housing and neighbourhoods that we can have and need in Aotearoa NZ.

We also encourage you to join The Housing Innovation Society as a member and come participate in the CoHoHui which will be held 15-17 April 2025 in Ōtautahi (Christchurch).

Links referred to in this episode:

https://www.nzhousingsurvey.co.nz/

https://www.theurbanadvisory.com/

https://thehousinginnovationsociety.com/

https://www.cohohui.com/