They didn’t want to end up in a traditional retirement home. They wanted to remain the actors in their own lives. Seven years after their first discussions about how to age well, a group of retired people is starting to build the first co-op for the aging. Non-speculation, democracy and environmental concern are the foundations of the “Chamarel-Les Barges” project, located in a neighborhood of Vaulx-en-Velin, east of Lyon, France. The project is so inspiring that the bank has even conferred a 50-year loan to the founders, who are in their 60s.

The rendezvous was set for the 15th floor in a Vaulx-en-Velin apartment building in the suburbs of Lyon. That’s the location for the headquarters of the Chamarel Association (also known as the Residents’ Cooperative Housing Residence of East Lyonnais) created in 2010, prompted by the first French co-op for older people.

Source: In France, a Retirement Co-op Ensures Seniors Are Not Treated as Commodities