[This pre-conference intensive is offered on May 19 in Salt Lake City as part of the Aging Better Together Conference. You may register for this intensive separately without registering for the full conference. Visit Aging Better Together Conference or jump to Register Now. A flyer is attached below.]

There is a quiet grassroots movement, among Boomers, to reject the current options for housing older people – managed-care facilities, retirement homes, nursing homes, and so on. This group, who began turning 60 in 2006, does not want to retire or grow older in the same kind of aging institutions in which they placed their own parents.

So it should come as no surprise that Boomers are embracing cohousing as a tool for maintaining their independence, building community, living light on the planet and caring about each other.

Join architect and author Charles Durrett for Senior Cohousing 101. In this inspiring pre-game show, you will learn why senior cohousing is such a big deal today and how to get them started. In this session, become aware of current challenges, including the influx of an aging society, and learn why cohousing is a successful model to combatting this challenge. Learn how to get a senior cohousing community started in your town, how to talk to your town officials, and how to appeal to your fellow citizens to stimulate a critical mass – a tipping of sorts for your peers.

Mr. Durrett brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as a pioneer in the cohousing movement in the U.S. – a movement that is celebrating 25 years! Since the 1980’s his firm, McCamant & Durrett Architects (also known as The Cohousing Company) has been institutional in the creation of over 50 successful cohousing communities and, with the partnership of Kathryn McCamant, owner of Cohousing Solutions, teaches architects and community leaders how to start successful cohousing communities around the globe.