Throughout the US, affordability in cohousing is an unresolved struggle, and one that leaves many incredible households unable to access this rich and reciprocal way of life. At Cathedral Park Cohousing in Portland, OR,  we’ve been working since our earliest days to partner with local housing organizations and community land trusts to layer affordability into our build. If you’ve been following us for a long time, you know that bringing the benefits of cohousing to folks from diverse backgrounds, ages, abilities, and income levels is at the core of our values. 

Thanks to the incredible work of our partner nonprofit, Our Home, Inclusive Community Collaborative, we are on our way to creating a community that is a 50-50 split between market rate and subsidized homes! 

The last five years have been a wild ride for the whole world, and building community in the reality of these times has its challenges. We know we are in good company when we say our work building community and moving towards construction on our land in Portland’s Cathedral Park neighborhood has been anything but smooth. With unprecedented inflation and instability in the construction world, global uncertainty, and so many other obstacles big and small, we have had many moments over these past few years when we have asked ourselves, “Are we still moving forward?” 

Well, we’re a persistent bunch (aka cohousers) and a living, breathing testament to the creativity and connection that comes from weathering complicated circumstances in community. 

And as we roll into the first hot days of a Pacific Northwest summer, we are sipping a large, cool glass of lemonade fresh squeezed from all the lemony stuff we’ve been through.

When we learned in the fall of 2023 (remember that inflation ride?) that our project didn’t pencil as designed, we pulled in as a community and took a good hard look at our options. After a lot of heartbreak, with some sad goodbyes to key partners and some beloved community members, we realized that in all the challenges there were some incredible opportunities, and we leaned into those. 

The outcome? We kept our land and a core membership, and have redesigned into a smaller community of 23 condos, of which 50% will come with a subsidy for purchase by households who income-qualify with Proud Ground, a local land trust. This type of affordability has always been something we were passionate about, and we are thrilled to increase the total number of subsidized homes from just two to four in our previous design, to 11 in our current design. We know this will help us reach more young families, young professionals, and folks who may not have access to the assets that traditional cohousing models ask of founding families, creating a stronger community that nests naturally into the neighborhood we will be a part of.  

So how did we get here?

With partnership and collaboration with our professional partners, the city of Portland, the state of Oregon, private foundations and our non-profit partner, Our Home Inclusive Community Collaborative (OHICC).  OHICC has been working since our inception to support our dream of being an inclusive and diverse community, and this July they secured a ~$2M grant from Oregon’s Local Innovation and Fast Track (LIFT) Homeownership Program to support affordability for 50% of our homes.

OHICC was also encouraged to apply for $2.6M  from the Portland Clean Energy Fund 2025 Community Grants Program (PCEF) to deepen our climate and disaster resiliency and lower our carbon footprint, making Cathedral Park Cohousing a better build for everyone. We are so grateful, and excited to see where this will take us as a community. 

That said, regardless of this tremendous support from the city, foundations, and community partners, cohousing is ultimately built by its Members.  We have gained so much support and are so close to success, but CPC simply won’t  move forward without bringing together the rest of its membership. If you’re interested, or know someone who might be, we invite you to come to an upcoming online information session, or just get in touch through our website!

While we won’t claim this has been an easy journey, we are truly excited about the way things have shaken out, and we’re excited to share where we are now. All to say, we are so close to calling Cathedral Park home, and if you’ve been thinking about living in community, this is an amazing time to jump!  We are pulling together the rest of our membership this summer, so this is your moment to come aboard.

We have online info sessions scheduled for September 17th and 20th, and we’d love to see you there. If those times don’t work, reach out to by email and we’ll set up a time to talk!  

The facts (some will be familiar if you’ve been following us for awhile, and  some are new): 

• We own a gorgeous ½ acre corner of Portland’s Cathedral Park neighborhood, with views of the Willamette River, the St. Johns Bridge and Forest Park. 
• We are building a 23-home inclusive cohousing community, with an intentional mix of age, ability and income.
• Each home will have full amenities, including kitchen, bathroom(s), laundry hookups and semi-private outdoor spaces. 
• Homes will be designed using precepts of Universal Design, making each home visitable by anyone, and a great space to age in place. 
• There will be ample shared indoor and outdoor spaces, including kitchen/dining space, outdoor patio, onsite parking and landscaped garden area.
• Approximately 20% of the homes will be made available to individuals living with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Individual households will be responsible for their own care and services, and will add to the diversity of the community.
• 50% of our homes will be subsidized, making the benefits of cohousing available to those who income-qualify.
• We have just 7 market-rate homes and 9 subsidized homes available, so don’t snooze if you want to be a part of this incredible community. 

Get in touch with us today!