Building an urban village: Retrofit Cohousing

N Street Cohousing residents tore down backyard fences to create a meandering flagstone path and shared open space for lush gardens, a hot tub and a community play area for children. (Photo by Evangeline Welch)

Author’s note: This article was extracted from a longer article I wrote in 1996 (One description of retrofit cohousing). Since that time a number of groups have attempted to develop retrofit cohousing communities. As in other cohousing efforts, some have succeeded, and some have failed. I am not aware of any good systematic study of those attempts that would be useful.
– Fred H. Olson, June 2005

Most cohousing communities in the U.S. are newly built neighborhoods with the homes arrayed along a pedestrian street or clustered around a courtyard, in close proximity to the community’s common house. But new construction is expensive and building sites in urban areas are few, so some people are finding ways to adapt existing blocks of housing and to change usage patterns to develop what is commonly called “retrofit cohousing.”

The premier example of retrofit cohousing in the U.S. is N Street Cohousing in Davis, CA. Beginning with a couple of neighbors tearing down fences, N Street has evolved over 19 years and now consists of 17 houses on one block currently housing 40 adults and 18 children. From the street it looks like a block of 1950s tract housing, but behind the homes residents make full use of shared open space. A flagstone path meanders past grassy areas, lush flower and vegetable gardens, a community hot tub, children’s play equipment and a community chicken coop as it passes from house to house, connecting neighbors, friends and family. Residents eat common dinners several times a week, work, play and sometimes vacation together. For a more detailed description of N Street Cohousing see “Rebuilding Community in America by Ken Norwood and Kathleen Smith.”

Establishing the first few houses of a retrofit cohousing community is a major step. The initial core group, who must be committed and financially willing and able to invest, chooses a block and buys two or more units there. Over time, as other properties on the block come up for sale or long-term lease, new households who want to participate in retrofit cohousing buy or lease them. Perhaps some people who already live on the block will choose to join as well.

Some characteristics that might make a block desirable for retrofit cohousing include:

One or more households who currently live on the block already participate in such a development effort.

• A significant turnover is likely, due to a high percentage of rental housing or homes occupied by older people who may move to condos or retirement communities in the next few years.
• No alley or partial alley bisects the potential common outdoor space (though "traffic calming" in the neighborhood can make an alley in the middle of the community easier to tolerate.)
• Many or most homes have kitchens and living rooms at the rear, facing the shared common backyard.
• The houses vary in cost, age, size and style, and perhaps include some multi-family (2-6 unit) buildings.
• Families with children occupy many of the homes.
• The block is close to city amenities such as parks, schools, libraries, shopping and public transit.

Some people feel that the success of a cohousing neighborhood depends primarily on the physical embodiment of the community – the layout, architecture, density, parking arrangements, etc. Others argue that the cohesiveness and commitment of the group – the way community members relate and organize themselves – is more important. Clearly, both factors contribute to and affect the successful development of a cohousing community.

In both these areas, retrofit cohousing differs from new construction cohousing:

• Since the community is moving into existing housing, they have little control over the community layout or the design or orientation of the homes.
• A retrofit community often takes a lot longer to create because neighbors "develop" it incrementally. A decade or more might pass before there are enough resident households for the group to afford a dedicated common house.
• Because the community grows as existing houses come on the market, people buying into established (site chosen) retrofit cohousing have less choice in the features of the homes that may become available.
• Retrofit cohousing site designs may not promote as frequent spontaneous interactions as in new construction cohousing communities.
• The timeline in retrofit cohousing is almost never known in advance, and may ultimately take more than a decade. Over such a long development period, it is difficult to keep those living off-site involved in the group. Since people’s lives don't stand still while the community develops, it is likely that when new dwellings become available over time, they will be snapped up people who have become interested in the community relatively recently.

Despite the many tradeoffs, retrofit cohousing is sometimes the best option for those who wish to create an affordable urban community.