Cooperative Aging

Janet Witkin, visionary founder of Alternative Living for the Aging

Here is the LA Times obituary of this impressive woman who died this weekend, far too young.

Alternative living for the aging

    Alternative Living for the Aging (ALA) is a Los Angeles non-profit that runs two interesting programs that, according to its website, "allow older people to remain independent through their interdependence."

    ALA's Cooperative Apartment Communities program places seniors in affordable collective housing in one of five different Los Angeles-area rental apartment complexes run by ALA. The communities have different structures  -- in one, residents come together regularly for meals cooked by the community's cook;  in another the residents live completely independently --but they share an ethos that has residents relating to one another as an extended family or community. 

    The second of ALA's programs, the Preinterviewed Housemate Matching Program, matches seniors with potential housemates(senior or younger) who either pay them rent or assist them with services such as shopping, transportation or companionship.