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Members of the new ElderGrace co-housing development will have the unique opportunity to become stewards of the nearby Arroyo de los Chamisos as a result of a unique partnership with Earthworks Institute. Residents of the development will be encouraged to learn how to restore and improve the health of the arroyo and maintain the integrity of the habitats for the animals and plants that live there. They will witness the ways this system has been damaged by careless uninformed development of the surrounding areas.
An active organizing group of prospective owners has been planning this co-housing community since 2006. The Eldergrace project, a certified Enterprise Community Partners “Green Community” managed by the Santa Fe Community Housing Trust, is expected to open in 2009. ElderGrace is a participant in the nationwide Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development program.
Eldergrace began when a few people came to The Housing Trust with the idea for an affordable co-housing development that would serve the needs of older adults who were interested in creating a dynamic and healthy community. A membership group of prospective residents grew and formulated their hopes for what
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has become a unique elder co-housing community, only the fourth project of its kind in the United States. The Housing Trust already owned the land, located near Cerrillos Road and Richards Avenue. Twenty-eight single-family duplex homes and a large common building will comprise the site with room for private yards and semi-private porches.
In addition, the site is near a large arroyo, the Arroyo de los Chamisos. Spencer Haynsworth, A Frederick P. Rose Architectural Fellow working with The Housing Trust, broached the idea of the need to restore the nearby arroyo with the ElderGrace membership group. Haynsworth encouraged a partnership between ElderGrace and Earthworks Institute. With support from the City of Santa Fe, Earthworks will be involved in this pilot neighborhood housing development that expands the idea of living space to include the preservation and restoration of the nearby natural environment.
It is natural for heads to turn when water is flowing in the acequias, arroyos and rivers in Santa Fe and throughout the varied terrain of New Mexico. The way water moves and connects to other bodies of water is often not visible to the public. Haynsworth feels that we need to see water and its configurations more regularly in order to appreciate and protect the movement of water.
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