Cohousing is a form of collaborative housing that offers residents an old-fashioned sense of neighborhood. In cohousing, residents know their neighbors well and there is a strong sense of community that is absent in contemporary cities and suburbs.
Cohousing communities consist of private, fully-equipped dwellings and extensive common amenities, including a common house and recreation areas. Residents are involved in the development of the community so it reflects their priorities.
PARTICIPATORY PROCESS Future residents participate in the design and development of the community so that it meets their specific needs. Some cohousing communities are initiated or driven by a developer, which may make it easier for residents to participate. A well designed pedestrian-oriented community, without resident participation in the planning, may be “cohousing inspired,” but it is not a cohousing community.
NEIGHBORHOOD DESIGN The physical layout and orientation of the buildings (site plan) encourages a sense of community. For example, the private residences are clustered on the site, leaving more shared open space. The dwellings typically face each other across a pedestrian street or courtyard, with cars are parked on the periphery. The common house is centrally located so that it's on your way home. More importantly, is the intention to create a strong sense of community with design as a facilitator.
COMMON FACILITIES Common facilities are designed for daily use. They are an integral part of the community, and are supplemental to the private residences. The common house typically includes a kitchen, large dining space, sitting area, children’s playroom and laundry. It may also have a workshop, library, exercise room, crafts room and/or one to two guest rooms. Except on very tight urban sites, cohousing communities often have playground equipment, lawns and gardens. Since the buildings are clustered, larger sites may retain several acres of undeveloped shared space.
RESIDENT MANAGEMENT Cohousing communities are managed by their residents. Residents do most of the work required to maintain the property; they participate in the preparation of common meals, and meet regularly to develop policies or problem-solve for the community.
NON-HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE AND DECISION-MAKING In cohousing communities there are leadership roles, but no one person or persons has authority over others. Most groups start with one or two “burning souls,” but as people join the group, everyone takes on at least one role consistent with their skills, abilities or interests. Most cohousing groups make decisions by consensus. Although groups typically have a voting policy if consensus cannot be reached, its use is rarely necessary.
NO SHARED COMMUNITY ECONOMY The community is not a source of income for its members. Occasionally, a cohousing community will pay one of its members to do a specific (usually time-limited) task, but more often the task will be considered that member’s contribution to the shared responsibilities.
You may well wonder why we have put this seemingly insignificant question so close to the top of our list. Frankly, because it is the single question most frequently asked of cohousing enthusiasts.
Can you imagine 25 or more households trying to separately prepare 18 or 19 meals every week, in one kitchen? That would be impossible. So yes, each residence has a fully equipped, private kitchen. Really.
Every cohousing community has a common kitchen, but individuals typically only participate in common meals two or three times a week. Kitchen duties are rotated among members, based on the size of your community. Common meals can be as frequent or infrequent as you'd like. However, they only cost $2-3, so many choose to take advantage of the cost-efficiency and time to bond with neighbors.
Some people involved with cohousing like to describe their communities as “intentional neighborhoods” rather than “intentional communities.” This is probably because the term “intentional community” frequently connotes a shared religious, political or social ideology, rather than the simple desire to have a larger sense of community with neighbors. Cohousers in the same community may be quite different from one another.
There are places where groups jointly own land, several have built homes, but there are usually no common facilities. In many other shared living situations, individuals don’t have a lot of privacy or space where they can do whatever they want, because the kitchen, living/dining room, and perhaps bathroom(s) are shared. In those situations, residents probably cannot paint the walls their favorite colors, play their favorite music loud in the living room, or have a late night party without imposing.
Well, then you’d have to find roughly 15 to 20 friends who:
are financially able and emotionally prepared to buy a home,
are able and willing to take risks and can spend a good deal of time, money and energy, well before the community is ready to move into,
really want to live in cohousing, and
want to live in the same area that you and others in your core group do.
Most people who are attracted to cohousing are actively seeking diversity in the communities they are planning; they want to live in a community with others who are not quite so much like themselves.
For the most part, groups require attendance at an orientation, regular meetings and some involvement with a committee before a household can apply for membership. Some groups have associate memberships that require little in the way of a financial contribution, but do give potential full members the chance to participate fully in the planning process, and to get to know others in the group. A full membership usually requires an equity investment, part or all of which is eventually credited toward the final price of your house. This investment can range from a few thousand dollars up to 15% of the final cost of your home.
The disadvantage of joining a group early is that your cohome may take a long time, not to mention energy and money, to materialize. The advantages are that the earlier you come into the group, the more opportunity you have to be a part of the design and planning. Plus, you get an earlier place in the order of unit selection. Many groups also have a financial incentive for joining the group early, in the way of a discount for your final house price.
Although one or two cohousing communities in the U.S. are organized as limited equity cooperatives, most are structured as condominiums or planned unit developments. In what is called the “lot development model,” members jointly own the common property and facilities, and are the sole owners of the lot on which they build their own single family house. Sometimes they own just the land directly under their homes (the footprint), or that plus a small back or front “private” yard. In “retrofit” cohousing, existing buildings are used or renovated so that certain spaces can be used by the whole community for its common activities. The ownership structure varies considerably in retrofit cohousing.
Except in a cooperative, any household leaving the community can legally sell their property to anyone they choose, but some communities maintain a “right of first refusal” which means that the seller must offer his or her unit for purchase by the community or to an individual(s) within the community before putting it on the open market. In other communities, residents sign a voluntary agreement that they will not lease or sell their unit to a person or persons who do not wish to participate fully in the community. Some communities maintain a waiting list of persons interested in being informed if a unit becomes available and it is to the benefit of the seller and to the rest of the community if everyone lends a hand in finding new owners. When it comes to resales, experience has shown that homes in cohousing have held their value or have appreciated faster than the market as a whole.
In some cohousing communities, a few individual households own homes with attached “granny” apartments that are available for rent. Sometimes, a homeowner may rent their unit for an extended period if they are unable to occupy it. A few communities have (or are planning) one or more units which might be shared by two or more individuals or households. In this situation, the unit might be held by more than one person as joint tenants or tenants-in-common. Alternatively, one person or household may own the unit and others sharing the home would be renters. At the present time, there is no community in which the homeowner’s association owns a unit and rents it out. Renting residents usually have all the same rights and responsibilities as owners, except in matters relating to expenditure of money. Typically, renters are welcome to attend meetings and participate fully in discussions of community matters, but usually they cannot block consensus.
Cohousing communities in North America range in size from 9 to 44 households. At CoHousing Solutions, we feel that 25 to 35 units balances development economies and social dynamics. Communities of this size are small enough so that you know all your neighbors by wave, but large enough to accommodate diversity.
Cohousing attracts a wide range of household types: single people of all ages, couples and single parents of infants, toddlers and school-aged children, couples whose children are grown, young couples without children, etc.
Cohousing homes typically cost more than other new condos or townhomes, for several reasons:
Cohousing neighborhoods offer generous common facilities that are unheard of in traditional attached housing developments.
Cohousing projects typically incorporate environmentally sustainable features that cost more in the short run, although they often pay off over time.
Cohousing neighborhoods are built on a smaller, more intimate scale than most new neighborhoods today.
In addition to energy savings that cohousers experience after moving in, cohousers often find that common meals and other shared costs help reduce their daily living expenses.
In some states, counties or municipalities, housing developers of multi-family housing are required by law to have a certain percentage of the new units meet a standard for affordability. People in cohousing usually welcome this, and as a matter of fact often wish they could make even more than the required percentage affordable. Unfortunately, unless the developer can get public or private subsidies or grants, there is a limit to how many affordable units can be built without driving everyone else’s costs sky high.
Cohousing communities tend to be safer than other neighborhood models. Many cohousers don't feel the need to lock their doors, though they always have the option. Everyone knows and cares about their neighbors. One might check in if they sensed something odd, creating a natural neighborhood watch system. If your child falls off a swing when he or she is out of your immediate sight line, another adult will surely pick him or her up. Part of cohousing's appeal is forging a community that will look out for YOU. Violations of trust between cohousers would result in the loss of shared benefits, which no one wants to risk after building their homes and relationships.
Kathryn McCamant & Charles Durrett met at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. While studying there, they discovered bofællesskaber (cohousing). In Denmark they decided to call these communities ‘cohousing’ instead of this lovely, but oh-so-long Danish word. The phrase is now listed in the Oxford English dictionary.
In addition to sharing large common spaces, usually including a common house, cohousers adopt a culture of sharing. Some things we share by purchasing them as a community and making them available in shared spaces. Other things we own privately and offer for the use of others. We believe in sharing what we have and borrowing what we need. Whether it is a teaspoon of salt, a crochet hook, or a pickup truck, we’re generally happy for our neighbors to use what we own and often offer expertise to go with it. We care for one another every day in small ways, and when health or life brings crisis, we join together to give whatever support is needed. We relish the joy of giving, and embrace the security of receiving from one another.
We believe that connection with others is a core need of humans. Our communities are designed so that we cross paths with each other often. We intentionally take the time to stop and chat when we can. We choose to eat together on a regular basis, work on community projects together and play together. In short, we make choices every day that support our relationships with our neighbors. We commit to share major assets; this requires give and take to manage collectively, bringing us closer together. We believe this makes us healthier, happier and more resilient.
Daily practices of composting and recycling combine with environmentally conscious building practices to reduce waste and energy use. Living close together makes it easy to collaborate on recycling items not picked up by city services, sharing rides, and rehoming things we no longer need. Additionally, with the combined resources of a community, its affordable to install solar panels, EV chargers, etc. (vs. if they owned a single-family home).
While appearance varies widely based on region, urban or rural location, and the preferences of the founders, there are some basic ideas that define the architectural style that is cohousing. Homes are clustered together, leaving room for common courtyards in dense urban areas and gardens and playfields in less dense areas. Private homes are on the small side, leaving space and resources for a common house where people gather, share meals, do laundry and host guests. Homes and common house are joined by pedestrian paths where residents pause to chat, gather to play and smile in passing. Cars are parked on the perimeter to keep interior paths safe for pedestrians. Energy efficiencies and sustainable features are designed into buildings from the start. Connected townhouses reduce winter heat loss while increasing interactions between neighbors.