When PDX Commons, the senior cohousing community in Portland OR, opened almost nine years ago, the average age of our residents was about 65. Now it’s close to 75. Nine years ago, none of us was using a walker. Currently, four people are. Clearly, our abilities and capacities are ever so gradually ebbing. Community members… Read More
This article was originally published in the Winter 2025 issue of Communities magazine. Primer on technology and aging: Based on my perceptions of technology when I was kid, by the 21st century, I expected every family to drive flying cars and have a robotic housekeeper like Rosie on the 1960s TV show The Jetsons. Rosie… Read More
Promoting Community Through Activism and Cohousing
Before coming to Albuquerque, I was a paid community organizer with the IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation)— which has a misleadingly boring name for an organization that is miraculously stitching back together the tatters of our democratic culture in cities across the U.S.
The following article was written by Larry Beresford, a member of the Phoenix Commons (senior cohousing in Oakland, Calif.) Wellness Team. It was previously published on the Next Avenue website in March 2025. Next Avenue is a nonprofit, digital journalism publication produced by Twin Cities PBS (TPT). The article has been lightly edited for this… Read More
Finding Our Village: Why We Chose to Build Community at Sunnyside Village Cohousing
If you had asked us ten years ago whether we’d someday join a forming cohousing community — one that wouldn’t be move-in ready until 2027 — we probably would have laughed. Life already felt full: careers, kids, logistics, exhaustion. Adding anything else seemed unrealistic.
And yet, here we are, members of Sunnyside Village Cohousing, feeling more grounded, hopeful, and connected than we have in a long time.
Following up on CohoUS’s announcement of its new strategic plan earlier this year, the association held a one-day conference/summit called Cohousing & Beyond: A Gathering on Collaborative Neighborhoods, in Sacramento, Calif., on Nov. 2. The conference was preceded by two days of bus tours visiting seven different cohousing communities in the area. The day kicked… Read More
Polestar Village: Spirit, Community and Lifelong Learning
As some of you know, Polestar’s 15 years in Hawaii ended dramatically in 2018 with the eruption of the Kilauea Volcano. With our lava insurance check in hand, we set out to find a new campus for our non-profit dedicated to “Spirit, Community and Lifelong Learning”.
After several years of looking far and wide, we landed in Fort Collins, CO., purchased 20 acres with mixed use zoning and just recently, after 4 solid years of planning, fundraising, and endless iterations of documents submitted to city officials, have received final approval to begin construction. We are still fundraising, pre-selling lots and taking reservations and we hope and expect to break ground in early 2026.
What a difference a year makes
Birthing a cohousing community is a long, multi-year process. It took us 7 years to move from the start of development of Heartwood Commons – Tulsa to moving into our homes in the late summer of 2024.
What a difference a year makes!
Cohousing in Quebec
Bob Rabin, a member of CohoUS’s Seniors in Cohousing Committee, had an opportunity to visit an interesting cohousing community in Quebec, Canada. Cohabitat Neuville, established in 2019, is the second cohousing community in the province. The first, Cohabitat Quebec in Quebec City, was built in 2013. The following report shares Bob’s impressions of Cohabitat Neuville…. Read More
Get It Built: Gratitude Village Takes the Next Big Step Toward Creating Community
Last month, something powerful happened in Denver. When Charles Durrett, architect, author, and cofounder of The Cohousing Company, took the stage at Gather at Lakeside on September 18, the energy in the room was electric. More than 150 people came to hear him speak about cohousing, connect with one another and imagine a future where neighborhoods are designed for belonging and inclusion.
How do the physical and social aspects of housing shape the lives of older adults in senior communities? In her recent research, Nazin Bagherinejad, PhD, explored this question through the lens of Lawton’s Ecological Theory of Aging, which emphasizes the interaction between a person’s abilities and their environment. According to Lawton, older adults thrive when… Read More
This year alone, several articles about cohousing – and senior cohousing in particular – have appeared in national and local publications, including The New York Times and The Guardian. Increasingly, cohousing in it many forms is being recognized as a healthy way to live for all ages. It’s an especially great way for older people… Read More
© The Cohousing Association of the United States. All Rights Reserved.