Secure
Homes should provide stability, dignity and the confidence to put down roots. Security creates the foundation from which people can participate in their community and plan for their future.
Our principles
Vision, values and aims.
Jahaji is guided by a simple belief: a good home should provide security and belonging while allowing both people and the natural world to flourish.
Our vision
A different way of living.
We envision an intergenerational community of secure, affordable homes, shaped and cared for by the people who live there.
It will be a place where privacy and independence are respected, but no one is required to face every difficulty alone; where the landscape is treated as a living partner rather than an empty surface; and where co-operation, kindness and democratic participation are part of everyday life.
We want to create a community that is connected to its neighbourhood, generous in sharing what it learns and capable of demonstrating a gentler relationship between housing, people and the earth.
Affordable
Housing should serve the people who live in it rather than short-term speculation. Affordability must be protected over time, not offered briefly and then lost.
Co-operative
Residents should have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their homes. Co-operation joins individual independence with shared responsibility and democratic participation.
Sustainable
Our homes should be thoughtful, low-impact and designed for the long term. Sustainability is not an addition to good housing; it is part of what makes housing good.
Peaceful
Home should offer sanctuary. Thoughtful design, mutual respect and clear democratic processes can support harmony, reduce conflict and make space for both friendship and quiet independence.
Our ecological philosophy
Living lightly.
Jahaji is guided by the idea that a good home should allow both people and the natural world to flourish.
Living lightly means using land, energy and materials with care. It means creating homes that are modest in their demands, generous in their shared spaces and designed to last. By sharing some resources rather than endlessly duplicating them, a community can live well while consuming less.
Our ecological ambition is inseparable from our social one. We want to create places that protect and enrich the landscape, encourage biodiversity and give residents daily contact with trees, planting, wildlife and the changing seasons.
We also believe that the design of a place can support harmony and peace. Private homes provide sanctuary and independence; shared gardens and common spaces create opportunities for friendship, co-operation and quiet companionship. Thoughtful design can help people live alongside one another—and alongside nature—with greater care.
For Jahaji, sustainability is a commitment to stewardship: leaving the ground, the community and the wider world better than we found them.
Our aims
Turning values into practice.
These aims will guide our choices and give future members a way to judge whether Jahaji is living up to its purpose.
Lastingly affordable
Create secure homes whose affordability is protected over time rather than lost to speculation.
Resident-led
Establish clear, democratic governance that gives members a meaningful voice and shares responsibility fairly.
Low impact
Reduce demands on land, energy and materials through careful design, shared resources and long-term stewardship.
Intergenerational
Build a community in which people of different ages can contribute, learn from one another and find belonging.
Connected
Be a good neighbour: open to the surrounding community, responsive to its place and willing to share what we learn.
Peaceful
Create homes, gardens and processes that support wellbeing, mutual respect, reflection and the peaceful resolution of disagreement.