Hi Sandye! I’ve thought about this a lot recently as I’m trying to figure out my next life steps. There are definitely many benefits to living in cohousing, but right now I don’t think I would want to live in a cohousing project. Maybe if I had a family/children or was in a later stage of my life I would. I think I would also prefer to live in a more diverse area than the ones that cohousing projects are currently forming in, so maybe in the future as cohousing changes and hopefully shifts to be more diverse and equitable I would consider it.

Hi Sandye! I’ve thought about this a lot recently as I’m trying to figure out my next life steps. There are definitely many benefits to living in cohousing, but right now I don’t think I would want to live in a cohousing project. Maybe if I had a family/children or was in a later stage of my life I would. I think I would also prefer to live in a more diverse area than the ones that cohousing projects are currently forming in, so maybe in the future as cohousing changes and hopefully shifts to be more diverse and equitable I would consider it.

Hello again Daddy! I can speak to some of the differences between US and European cohousing models, but I can’t really go into depth on it as my focus was mostly based on US cohousing. I would say the main difference I found in my research is that it’s more popular in Europe in part due to higher government acceptance. Cohousing in Europe was more successful as a housing form at its start (I think because it’s more in line with more democratic-socialist values), and the government took notice and thus changed zoning codes to make it easier to form. In the US cohousing tends to operate more like a Homeowners Association neighborhood legally because cohousing is not as broadly accepted or recognized here, which makes it harder to form and exist, which in turn makes it less recognizable and legitimized. An interesting thing that I found was that cohousing in Ireland was more similar to cohousing in the United States, and the researchers believed it was due to the value of private property and owning one’s home in Ireland (similar to the American dream). Cohousing does exist in Oceania, but I didn’t see anything about it in Asia, Africa, or Latin America in my research. Although I think it’s important to note that familial structures and housing are different within different cultures, because in many Asian and Latin American cultures there’s a norm of many generations of one family living in the same household, while that’s less true in the United States.
I think that one way the US model could be improved would to be more focus on retrofit cohousing, which is a less popular form of cohousing. Retrofit cohousing is taking housing that already exists and forming a cohousing group with your neighbors, so there is less of the control of the built environment aspect, but it tends to be more affordable which I believe is one of cohousing’s biggest problems. I think spreading more information to the general public to raise awareness would do a lot of good, as cohousing is so easy to modify to fit a group’s needs that cohousing can take on such a variety of forms to benefit a diverse population.
In terms of taking the lead, I think that part of the responsibility lies with the local government to modify their zoning codes, which are often a barrier to new build cohousing projects. I don’t think the private sector should be very involved other than being contracted to build if it is a new build, as the whole point of cohousing is that it is formed by the people involved so a bottom up model rather than a top down one is important in cohousing. Especially because as I mentioned earlier, cohousing is so modifiable and moldable to each group, each one will look different, making it difficult for the private sector to provide that on a larger scale.

Hello again Daddy! I can speak to some of the differences between US and European cohousing models, but I can’t really go into depth on it as my focus was mostly based on US cohousing. I would say the main difference I found in my research is that it’s more popular in Europe in part due to higher government acceptance. Cohousing in Europe was more successful as a housing form at its start (I think because it’s more in line with more democratic-socialist values), and the government took notice and thus changed zoning codes to make it easier to form. In the US cohousing tends to operate more like a Homeowners Association neighborhood legally because cohousing is not as broadly accepted or recognized here, which makes it harder to form and exist, which in turn makes it less recognizable and legitimized. An interesting thing that I found was that cohousing in Ireland was more similar to cohousing in the United States, and the researchers believed it was due to the value of private property and owning one’s home in Ireland (similar to the American dream). Cohousing does exist in Oceania, but I didn’t see anything about it in Asia, Africa, or Latin America in my research. Although I think it’s important to note that familial structures and housing are different within different cultures, because in many Asian and Latin American cultures there’s a norm of many generations of one family living in the same household, while that’s less true in the United States.
I think that one way the US model could be improved would to be more focus on retrofit cohousing, which is a less popular form of cohousing. Retrofit cohousing is taking housing that already exists and forming a cohousing group with your neighbors, so there is less of the control of the built environment aspect, but it tends to be more affordable which I believe is one of cohousing’s biggest problems. I think spreading more information to the general public to raise awareness would do a lot of good, as cohousing is so easy to modify to fit a group’s needs that cohousing can take on such a variety of forms to benefit a diverse population.
In terms of taking the lead, I think that part of the responsibility lies with the local government to modify their zoning codes, which are often a barrier to new build cohousing projects. I don’t think the private sector should be very involved other than being contracted to build if it is a new build, as the whole point of cohousing is that it is formed by the people involved so a bottom up model rather than a top down one is important in cohousing. Especially because as I mentioned earlier, cohousing is so modifiable and moldable to each group, each one will look different, making it difficult for the private sector to provide that on a larger scale.

Thank you Lia! I think one exciting part of cohousing is most of them do have sustainability as one of their values, but I do think that a lot more can be done on that front/crossover zone. I hope your Junior IS is going well!

Thank you Lia! I think one exciting part of cohousing is most of them do have sustainability as one of their values, but I do think that a lot more can be done on that front/crossover zone. I hope your Junior IS is going well!