Charles Durrett
Traditional forms of housing no longer address the needs of many older Americans. Nor are baby-boomers going to accept what our parents had. Most of the current options for “retirement living” are inadequate, both socially and healthwise. Cohousing opens up new alternatives for seniors to take control of the inevitable, to live as independently as possible, as long as possible. Cohousing offers aging adults a way to live among people with whom they share a common bond of age and experience—an entirely new way to house themselves with dignity, independence, safety, mutual concern, and fun.
Charles Durrett, with his wife Kathryn McCamant, introduced the concept of cohousing to the U.S. with their book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves. Charles authored Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living – The Handbook and coined the word “cohousing” for which he is credited in the Oxford English Dictionary. He has designed over thirty cohousing communities in the United States, including Muir Commons, the first cohousing community in North America, and has consulted on many more around the world. Durrett, Katie, and daughter, Jessie, now live in the Nevada City, CA cohousing community with 20 seniors and 20 other families.