Glossary
Affordable housing. Cohousing communities actively seek ways to make more of their units affordable. Some states, counties or municipalities also require developers of multi-family housing, including cohousing developments, to have a certain percentage of the new units meet a standard for “affordability.”
Coho/US. The Cohousing Association of the United States
Cohousing professionals. Businesses and/or individuals who primarily serve cohousing groups. These professionals include developers, architects and other consultants that provide specialized services for cohousing communities, including marketing, media relations and group process.
Common facilities. Facilities designed, managed and shared by a cohousing community (supplemental to private residences). Common facilities almost always include a common house. Except on very tight urban sites, cohousing communities often have playground equipment, lawns and gardens as well. Since the buildings are clustered, larger sites may retain several or many acres of undeveloped shared open space.
Common house. Shared facility owned and managed by the community. The common house typically includes a common kitchen, dining area, sitting area, children's playroom and laundry, and also may contain a workshop, library, exercise room, crafts room and/or one or two guest rooms.
Common meals. Cohousing residents usually share two or three meals each week in their common house. Eating common meals is always voluntary. Commonly, a team of two to four persons prepares meals for diners who sign up in advance, and each adult resident helps cook and/or clean up once every five or six weeks.
Community partners. Cohousing communities who contribute a minimum of $250 annually to support the programs and services of Coho/US because they believe in the value of community and are committed to making cohousing more accepted, more available and more influential in the future.
Community liaison. Serves as the contact person to keep Coho/US abreast of new developments within his or her cohousing community, and conveys information and support to the community from the Association.
Consensus. Consensus refers to a decision-making process by which an agreement is made by all members of a group, rather than a majority or a select group of representatives. To reach this agreement, the group goes through a non-hierarchical consensus process with assumptions, methods and results that differ from traditional parliamentary or majority voting procedures.
Essential elements include having a degree of trust among members, a common purpose, time to understand the question, problem or proposal carefully, a belief that each person has the right to be heard, and attention to the process used for arriving at decisions. A consensus decision represents a reasonable decision that all members of the group can accept. It is not necessarily the optimal decision for every individual.
Elder cohousing. An innovative cohousing concept that offers pro-active adults, 55 and above, the opportunity to live independently and “age in community” within a close-knit group of neighbors.
Great room. Usually refers to the dining room in a common house because the room is used for many community functions in addition to dining. Ideally, the great room should work as well for big functions with large crowds as it does for typical community dinners or even intimate gatherings and quiet meals.
Group process. Refers to the behavior, communication or decision-making process of people in groups, such as a site search committee developing a list of criteria for suitable land. An individual with expertise in group process, such as a trained facilitator, can help a group toward accomplishing its goal by assessing how the group functions and intervening to alter the way individuals interact with each other.
Intentional neighborhood. Some people involved with cohousing like to describe their communities as “intentional neighborhoods.” By contrast, “intentional communities” frequently connotes a shared religious, political, environmental or social ideology rather than simply the desire to have a strong sense of community with your neighbors.
Resident management. Residents manage their own cohousing communities, and also perform much of the work required to maintain the property. They participate in the preparation of common meals, and meet regularly to solve problems and develop policies for the community.
Retrofit cohousing. Retrofit cohousing differs from traditional cohousing communities because neighbors transform an existing neighborhood rather than building from the ground up.
Right of first refusal. The seller of a cohousing unit must offer his or her home for purchase by the community or to an individual or individuals within the community before putting it on the open market.
Stand aside. One of two options in the consensus process for a person who is not in unity with a decision. He or she may “stand aside” and let the minutes record the action. People choose to stand aside if they feel they need to do so for personal reasons. Standing aside does not stop the group from moving forward and implementing a decision. (See “stand in the way”)
Stand in the way. One of two options in the consensus process for a person who is not in unity with a decision. He or she may “stand in the way” or “block” a decision. Blocking occurs when one or more individuals believe that the decision being reached will be detrimental to the group or organization. Whoever feels this way is obligated to stop the action from moving forward and to explain why.
Related pages: What is Cohousing?
