| Why
Cohousing? Housing
Needs Have Changed
Our society has experienced dramatic demographic and economic changes, leaving a
mismatch between today's households and conventional housing. Single-family houses
designed for a 1950s family don't meet the needs of contemporary households. Our smaller
families, working adults, and growing numbers of single parents, elders, and singles
living alone face social isolation, a chronic time crunch and a child-care crisis, in part
because they live in housing that no longer suits their needs.
Children enliven
cohousing communities
At the same time, an increasingly mobile population has distanced many Americans from
their extended families, who traditionally provided social and economic support.Most of us
feel the effects of these trends.Things that people once took for granted - family,
community, a sense of belonging - must now be actively sought out. Few housing options
address these needs.
The Cohousing Solution
Cohousing communities respond to the basic needs of today's households -
child-care, social contact and economic efficiency - by combining the autonomy of private
dwellings with the advantages of community living.Approximately fifty cohousing
communities have been built in the United States since 1991.Another thirty communities are
now under construction and over one hundred more in the planning stages.Most of these are
located in the western United States.The success and growing acceptance of these
developments attest to the viability of this housing solution.
In many respects, the cohousing model is not new. Many of us remember when people knew
their neighbors over time, when neighborhoods had a sense of community. Cohousing
communities offer a contemporary model for recreating neighborhoods with a sense of place
along with a sense of belonging and feeling of security.
Sharing a meal, cohousing
style
Cohousing communities
offer:
- A balance of privacy and community
- A safe and supportive environment for children and elders
- A practical and spontaneous lifestyle
- Intergenerational neighborhoods
- Environmentally-sensitive design emphasizing pedestrian access and open space
Homebuyers participate in the planning and design of cohousing communities to ensure
that the development responds to their needs and priorities. In some cases, residents fund
predevelopment costs and are significant investors in the projects from the very beginning
so that they are both co-developers and eventual buyers of homes in the community.
The cohousing model incorporates ideas that have already proven very successful.
Planned retirement communities often include shared dining and other common
facilities.Resident involvement is recognized as a critical aspect in increasing buyer
satisfaction and reducing housing management costs.Utilizing conventional forms of
ownership such as condominiums, cohousing builds on accepted legal and financial
structures.Yet cohousing communities are unique in combining a participatory planning
process, neighborhood design, shared facilities, and resident management to attract all
ages and household types. As a result, cohousing communities become cross-generational
neighborhoods that support traditional values of family and community.
Cohousing was initially pioneered in Denmark and the Netherlands where this type of
housing has flourished in the last 20 years and there are now over 300 such developments
built. Architects Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett of Berkley, California introduced
the cohousing concept in the United States with their book Cohousing: A Contemporary
Approach to Housing Ourselves (Ten Speed Press: 1988, 1994). Since the book was first
published, their work has attracted national attention including coverage on ABC's World
News Tonight, and articles in Architecture, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal
and The Los Angeles Times, among others.
For more information about cohousing, Contact Us
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