I The Cohousing Association welcomes blog posts from anyone in the cohousing movement

Some call me an “experienced cohouser,” but I am also a “wounded cohouser.” It’s like having cohousing PTSD. I am now a part of a newly forming cohousing group http://newamericanvillages.com/ and with every hint of delay, I get spooked. When potential members express their concerns, I think “Oh, yeah, be worried—be very worried.” I hesitate… Read More

At Jubilee Cohousing in Floyd, VA, we are hard at work with our cohousing-savvy builder designing our neighborhood and homes. We are ambitiously building an all Passivhaus neighborhood and Common House (ultra-low energy design/construction) and it feels great, like we’re experiencing our own mini energy revolution! 2014 has been an amazing year of happenings. We’ve… Read More

Overwhelmingly, intentional communities can think up governance structures faster than they can staff them. It’s a problem. In my experience, communities generally do a fair job of puzzling out a decent way to set up committees (or teams) to oversee the major aspects of living together—for example, outdoor maintenance, common house management, common meals, budget… Read More

When people create intentional community they are purposefully choosing a culture that is shifted more toward the “we” end of the spectrum and away from the “I” end. People living in community are, by design, opting for a social reality in which their lives will be more interwoven with those of fellow members and less… Read More

I’m excited to introduce a new project recently launched at CoHousing Partners: http://www.cohousingpartners.com in Nevada City, CA. I’ve started a Q&A style video series to offer a first-hand glimpse of life in cohousing. These candid interviews with the experts on the topics of living, growing and aging in cohousing could provide an excellent educational feature… Read More

The National Cohousing Conference promises an amazing lineup of offerings, from innovative approaches to developing new and affordable communities, to potent ways to enhance our vibrant communities. We’ll cover cohousing basics as well as hot topics in sustainability, community building, and the evolving definition of cohousing. Our “next generation theme” will explore the new wave… Read More

This is the sort of home I lived in before we built our cohousing community. It’s also similar to what Wendy writes about in her recent blog entry (https://www.cohousing.org/node/2743). When we think about If you can find a way to support these folks, that would be great: http://www.courant.com/community/hartford/hc-hartford-scarborough-zoning…

Walnut Commons in Santa Cruz sent this delightful note with a gift: “our community is just a few months in our new building and we have many expenses as we settle in….we do see the value of Coho/US and hope that in the future we may do more.” How wonderful! If your community has not… Read More

Almost all people living in intentional community—as well as those aspiring to—value good communication. After all, the heart of community is relationship and that’s pretty hard to develop and sustain with weak communication. That said, all conditions under which communication is attempted are not equal. Some are way more challenging than others. In particular, one… Read More