There are a few key words at K9: ‘co-creation’ and ‘intentional’ being just two of them. Those who live in the House have intentionally chosen to co-create their lives and the life of the house with others.
This is not a small commitment and that is why we are a ‘long term’ coliving. Most of our residents stay at least one year, usually much longer.
K9 organisational governance is loosely based on the Holacracy method. Meaning that there are no leaders. The authority and decision making is shared between everyone in the house distributed through self organized teams and individual roles.
We all contribute in different ways to make the house operate day to day but also to make it a nice place to live. Everyone is invited to take a role or join a team during their stay in the house. We also host monthly community gathering during which topics can be brought up to be decided upon together.
Through our economic association, we’re using the membership fee that is included in the rent, to fill the basic needs of the house in a democratic way. That means we can buy supplies like salt, peppar, oil, paper, internet, cleaning services and other necessities for the whole community to run smoothly. Great for the planet and better for our well-being.
Among other great tools, we use Slack to organise ourselves within the house – as well as keeping in touch with alumnus. Once a K9er, you’re always just a click away from the K9 family.
We have been perfecting our principles and systems together through the years, creating a structure on which life at K9 can flow beautifully. However, nothing is perfect and to reach any state of flow, one has to set things up first. That is why we live by guidelines, rules and values that we re-evaluate from time to time, together as a community.
You know what you need and you communicate it. You set and uphold your own boundaries and respect others' boundaries. You know how you interact with and affect the surroundings.
We stay up to date with house information and decisions about community governance. We are actively engaged in the community and can be relied on to take ownership over our responsibilities and to communicate with our team members.
We value getting things done, when they are good enough for now and safe enough to try. Before raising an issue, we ask if we can solve it ourselves or if we can suggest a solution along with the problem. When we want a bigger change, we discuss with fellow community members and present actionable proposals to the house meeting.
Living in K9 means living in an experiment, literally. We try to figure out a new way of living and it will not always be spot on. Change is the only constant. When something goes wrong, ask not what the community can do for you — ask what you can do for the community.
Inclusion, participation, gifting, communal effort, self-reliance, leaving no trace & self-expression.
We love the opportunity to have access to beautiful and large spaces we would never be able to afford on our own. We love to share our life moments, the good and the bad, to feel understood, to find support at our doorstep.
And we love the feeling of growth we experience being able to learn and experiment in an adult size playground, day after day.
