Baba Yaga House, The Sequel

Named for the fiery witch of Slavic folk tales, the six-story building was set to be a women's only seniors' home. It was the brainchild of 85-year-old Thérèse Clerc, who along with a group of aging feminist activists, convinced the local Green government to spend six million dollars putting it up.

The Baba Yagas  - as they call themselves  - fought for change all their lives and for the right to make their own decisions. Now in their 60's, 70's, and 80's, they weren't about to give that up.

At Baba Yaga House, no one was going to be given a bedtime, or told what to eat. There would be no staff - cooks, cleaners or nurses. These women were planning to take care of each other - right to the end.

When David met them in the fall, teacher Odette Menteau and executive Dominique Doré -  both retired  - could hardly wait to move in. 

In this segment, The Sunday Edition re-visits the Baba Yaga House experiment in France, meeting two of the many Canadian women who've been inspired and hear about Montrealer Janet Torge's dream of a chain of Radical Resthomes.

Join Janet for an online discussion about alternative living arrangements. Here is what she had to say on the program:

Like Thérèse and her friends in Paris, I have done a lot of thinking about where I want to spend my Last Chapter years.  The topic first came up in my group of friends almost 20 years ago, and I've been grappling with it ever since.

At first I imagined a neighborhood-by-neighborhood Occupy Movement. We'd storm existing seniors' residences, kick out managers and live together on our own.  We'd redesign the recreation room to feature an awesome sound system, we'd be our own cooks.  Book clubs and political discussions would be regular activities. We'd recreate the communes from our past, living together and caring for each other as we aged.  If medical help was needed, it would come to us - not the other way around.

     But as I floated the vision by my friends, I realized that though we liked the idea of sharing, we'd become extremely opinionated about what communal living would look like. 

Only a few thought living together in a liberated residence hit the mark.

     "Most of those places are ugly", some said. "And besides, there are way too many rooms for an intimate community." They talked instead about selling their houses, pooling the cash and buying a six-plex, even a grand mansion to share.  

     Others told me they liked the idea of residences which were "the best of both worlds":  You would have your own full unit, with a door you could close. And so would your friends - in the same building, a place that would provide the resources you'd need for a safe, easier life.   Mind you, the price tag would be in the neighborhood of $4 - 5,000 a month, so only a select few would qualify.

     There was the Retire-To-The-Country contingent, the 6-Months-in-the-Warmth-Abroad group and the Perpetual Travelers who only want a home base to come back to every so often.    

     And then there are people like me:  Boomers with no pension to speak of, already in a semi-panic about finances, knowing that whatever we do, it has to be On-The-Cheap and Do-It-Yourself. 

     Over the years, I've spent many hours trolling the internet looking for good alternative ideas for good alternative seniors, hoping that somewhere a group has figured it all out. 

I've learned two things from the time I've spent on-line:

     The word "alternative" is the new trendy adjective for senior housing and it doesn't always mean there's anything different about the place.  Perhaps they've replaced juice and cookies with cocktails... or got rid of Bingo and created a Book Club.  But look closely and you're probably living on management's schedule, under management's rules.

     The second thing I learned is that if you have lots of cash, investments and pension, you CAN create a lifestyle of your choosing.  Across the country, seniors are getting together, buying land or buildings to create small communities where they care and look after each other. I wish them all well, but people like me will never be able to join them, savings-challenged and pension-less that we are.

     That's why the Baba Yaga project struck a chord with me.  Here was a group of women who managed to hustle up public funds to create their dream residence.  They were lucky enough to find a city planner who understood that investing $6 million in a place for 20 older women is a huge savings over providing institutional care for them over time.  We don't seem to grow those kind of municipal visionairies, government or otherwise, here in Canada.

     But here in Canada I am... so I continue to tinker with my own Baba Yaga dream. In my head, I call it Radical Resthomes... I can hear groans from across the country as I say the name.  We hate Resthomes!  Agreed.  But if it's a "Radical Resthome".  Admit it - you want to hear more. 

     My idea is simple:  Get your group of friends together and find a place to live.  You can rent, you can own, you can build from scratch. You can have lots of money or not.  Your place might be in the country, the city, a small town, in a tree.  It can be in Canada, Florida, Mexico... doesn't matter where. Granted, my project is not just for women, but since we females tend to out-live our "boyfriends", the longer it goes, the more woman-y I imagine it will become.

     Once you all move in together, you declare your place a "Radical Resthome". You're the management, you're the clients. These places sprout up across the country. You join the Radical Resthome Association (in my dream I'm the president and chief clearinghouse operator), which helps you figure out resources, and decision-making.

     Having trouble sharing housework?  There's probably a Radical Resthome somewhere that has worked that out already. Did someone die and you don't know how to choose a replacement?  Just call the Association - they'll find a home that's already dealt with that. Does one roommate seem to have dementia?  I bet there are homes where two or three are dealing with it. We help each other and figure out these things together... til the end of our days.

     In my dream, the provinces love the idea because providing supplemental home care is a helluva lot cheaper than footing the bills in chronic care facilities. There's only one loose end to my perfect fantasy:  when does it kick in?  It's my idea and even I don't know when to start.  

I'm not ready now at 65.  70 is only 5 years away and I can't see much changing by then. 75?  Hold it!  I can't imagine being 75, let alone making plans for that person.  80 seems way too late.

     But I need to be there BEFORE I get sick and get carted away to the Resthome that's not Radical.  Which is why I'm going to put the women at Baba Yaga house in France on speed dial.  First call: First question . How did you know the TIME WAS NOW?

     For The Sunday Edition, I'm Janet Torge in Montreal.