FAQ's: What is Cohousing?
Often called the “new village”, cohousing communities are
- small-scale mainstream neighborhoods
- a balance between personal privacy and living in a community
- community among people who know and care about one another
The mutual commitment to being good citizens and good neighbors overcomes the alienation of modern housing complexes in which knowing one's neighbor can be rare. There are now 95 completed cohousing communities in the USA and Canada with several hundred more in various stages of development.
Cohousing neighborhoods come in all flavors of development types: from new construction on raw land to rehab, retrofit, renovation, and adaptive use projects. They are built in urban, suburban, and rural settings and range in price from subsidized to exclusive. From as few as eight households to as many as fifty, cohousing communities espouse no ideology whatsoever. In any community, you may find diversity on every front: political, occupational, vocational, aspirational, cultural, demographical, generational – all residing happily in a neighborhood they helped design!
Physical characteristics of cohousing include:
- Intentional site planning with clustered or attached housing centered around extensive common resources and facilities, providing opportunities for impromptu interaction
- A “Common House” with shared facilities such as a dining room , playroom, workshop, sitting areas, and library
- Community Commons and open space amenities
- Purposeful separation from the car, pedestrian-friendly environment
- Balance of private spaces and active space
Social & lifestyle characteristics of cohousing include:
- Non-ideological structure: there are no charismatic leaders and no affiliation with any organization or idea
- Non-hierarchal structure: each resident is as equally empowered and responsible as the next person
- Cooperative decision making
- Shared meals: optional shared group meals prepared voluntarily by residents on a rotating basis
- Spontaneous sharing and support
Future residents of a cohousing development have input and are included in the development process, offering reduced risk and increased certainty for presales and unit types. Additionally, if the project requires public hearings or other entitlement processes, the participation of future residents humanizes the face of the development team, frequently neutralizing opposition.
Market characteristics include:
- Future homeowners have significant input in the planning & design process and management of their community
- Diversity of housing types and styles may be used
- Compatible with “green building” technologies and strategies
- Typically, homes are more than 75% “presold” before ground is broken for construction
Cohousing, in legal and financial terms, is no different than any residential housing development with commonly held amenities. The key difference is the process. Through a collaborative development process, future residents of a cohousing project become a community, in every sense of the word, before they move into their new homes.
Legal characteristics include:
- Private home ownership
- Conventional HOA, condo association, or co-op codes, convenants, & restrictions
Financial characteristics include:
- Traditional mortgage financing for homes
- Stable value despite fluctuations in market conditions
- Lowered risk in development process due to presales
Learn more...What is Senior Cohousing?