The Nickel City Housing Co-op

Website

http://www.nickelcitycoop.org/

The Nickel City Housing Co-op is a housing co-op in nearby Buffalo. An excellent story titled One building at a time: The story of Nickel City Cooperative recently appeared in the Buffalo Spree.

The final paragraph of that story should resonate well with Rochesterians involved in similar cooperative efforts:

As every aspect of community living was detailed for me, including a handbook for dealing with conflict issues such as guests and pets, I was truly bowled over by the thoroughness of this endeavor. “We’re not just a bunch of hippies who thought it would be cool to live together,” O’Sullivan said at one point, pointing out the balance between managing the needs of everyday life with a broader agenda for a reconception of community living. Here are a group of young people who committed themselves to Buffalo by investing not only their scant personal capital, but their energy, time, and vision, taking it upon themselves to reinvent a concept of community and property in the heart of the city. For Western New Yorkers who care about revitalizing the region, we could all take a page from the Nickel City Co-op handbook.

And so we have.