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 off with a panel discussion on the topic “Building Together: Models and Movements for Connected Living,” moderated by Katie McCamant, Principal, Cohousing Solutions. The panel included Mariana Almeda of Berkeley Cohousing, Phil Levin from Live Near Friends + The Radish, Danny Milman, Urban Development + Partners, and Ben Pearl, a cooperative housing leader and consultant.

The weather was perfect for an outdoor lunch and networking on the patio of the Sierra Center in downtown Sacramento. The afternoon featured two rounds of breakout sessions (a total of eight to choose from) on topics such as making it affordable, converting existing buildings, retrofitting neighborhoods and affinity-based cohousing.

Several members of the CohoUS Seniors in Cohousing Committee attended the conference. Following are some of their reflections on what it meant to them.

Dyan Wiley, committee chair and CohoUS board member

I participated in both bus tours offered on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 to get a closer look at seven cohousing communities — all different from one another in fascinating ways — from the brand new urban-based Washington Commons in Sacramento to the established senior community of Wolf Creek Lodge in Grass Valley, set in the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills, and the long-standing Nevada City Cohousing a few miles away.  Each community had residents guiding small groups of us to see common amenities and the interiors of a few units.

I really enjoyed the conversations among my various bus tour mates as we changed seats each time we got on the bus to visit another community. I had a fascinating discussion with Chris Fano, a staff member of the California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. I was heartened by his presence and interest in cohousing and its value as a housing option.

During the summit, I attended the session “Scaling Affordable, Urban Cohousing,” led by a staff member of Frolic Community, which is innovating a homeownership model for generational renters with a shared equity model of co-development. Another session, “Making It Affordable” with Katie McCamant and Darryl Berlin gave me a chance to learn more about how community land trusts can be a partner to create affordability in housing development projects. 

Post-summit, I got to share a meal with several people who are interested in creating senior cohousing projects, in which I’m especially interested in my role as chair of the Seniors in Cohousing Committee for CohoUS.   

Laurie Frank, CohoUS board chair

CohoUS started putting the new strategic plan into action with our first regional summit, held in Sacramento, with a focus on exploring various models of cohousing. On the first day of the bus tours, we visited four very different communities. Two were urban developments — one a multi-family building similar to our cohousing community in Madison, Wisc., and another of townhouses with lots of nooks and crannies outside as gathering points. Another community, N Street, removed backyard fences over a period of 25 years, creating a loose confederation of about 20 households. Muir commons was the first Danish-inspired cohousing community built in the U.S.  

All the communities felt similar yet different — each model has its own personality, styles of governance, and unique characteristics. They all felt similar because they are democratically run, value participation, connect a variety of people, and are, well, cohousing.

The one-day summit offered workshops on co-ops, land trusts, rentals, new construction, and conversion of existing buildings to support cohousing. The summit opened a door to broader ways of looking at cohousing that offer the potential of making it more accessible and affordable for more people. Although I already live in a cohousing community, I was excited about all the creativity and possibilities for community-rooted housing as a solution to the housing challenges we are experiencing in the U.S.

The best part of the summit, for me, was the opportunity for networking with people who are passionate about community living and looking for ways to help cohousing grow and evolve.  

Lew Bowers, committee member

I really enjoyed attending the Sacramento Cohousing & Beyond summit. It was an opportunity to meet old friends in cohousing and also make new friends in community- rooted housing. The tours were especially useful. It was great to see the four communities in the Sacramento area, and then we visited three others in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area.

The workshops were useful, but like any conference the real benefit was spending time with the other participants. This conference was really focused on community-rooted housing, which are other types of housing that embody the cohousing spirit but use different physical forms of housing. We learned about cohousing, co-ops, shared housing and community land trusts.

These conferences are always very uplifting and energizing for me. I came back with renewed spirit and new and fresh ideas that I wanted to share with my PDX Commons community.

Jim Leach, committee member

I felt that the Sacramento conference was a breakthrough event for the Cohousing Association in that it emphasized the diversity in community-based housing options. I especially enjoyed the Friday bus tour and visiting a handful of varied communities. For me, the high point of the conference was the opportunities to connect with so many old and new cohousing friends.

Neil Planchon, committee member, executive director, Cohousing Research Network

For the Friday and Saturday community bus tours, our 54-passenger buses were filled with enthusiastic, knowledgeable participants who happily switched seats after each stop. This made the tours both fun and highly educational, with a well-planned opportunity to meet everyone and learn a lot. Each community welcomed us warmly, led excellent tours of their neighborhoods, and offered second-to-none storytelling. We also enjoyed outstanding lunches at Muir Commons on Friday and Nevada City Cohousing on Saturday.

Over the two days, we visited N Street, Muir Commons, Washington Commons, and Southside Park Cohousing in Sacramento and Davis, as well as Wolf Creek Lodge, Nevada City Cohousing, and Fair Oaks EcoHousing. We ended both days with heartfelt appreciation and generous applause for the community hosts and the tour organizers, who kept everything running smoothly and made the tours fun.

I think CohoUS did a wonderful job of bringing in new voices and projects that honored our theme of Cohousing and Beyond. Among the highlights for me were leading and participating in the bus tours, hosting the Cohousing Research Network [cohousingresearchnetwork.org] and the Research Institute for Community-Led Housing [riclh.org] exhibit tables, and sharing Sunday lunch with everyone in the courtyard. I especially loved meeting the younger generations of future residents — curious, thoughtful, and ready to stretch the boundaries of what we know. It was exciting to see their energy and imagine how they will grow. I had a wonderful dinner with a handful of them.

Upcoming events

Dec. 10 — The Commons, a free monthly gathering for the cohousing curious and experts, too; 10 a.m. MST; repeats on the 10^th of each month; register here.

Dec. 20 — Seniors in Cohousing Q&A, an informal facilitated conversation for those who are interested in senior cohousing and/or senior living in intergenerational cohousing; 10 a.m. MST; repeats on the 20^th of each month; register here. Once registered, you’ll receive an email before the meeting with a link to join the call on Zoom.

CohoUS offers many live and on-demand courses on a wide range of topic related to cohousing. Peruse them here.

The Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC) also offers a range of live, on-demand and rerun online courses. Check out some interesting live courses coming up in March 2026.

Find out about becoming a CohoUS member here.

See the CohoUs mission and vision statement here.