What Is Co Housing?

By design, cohousing encourages a culture of sharing and interaction with a balance of privacy. Residents choose their level of involvement in community activities, and a theme prevails where neighbors become lifelong friends. 

• Ann Zabaldo Cohousing Pioneer and Resident of Takoma Village Cohousing 
  • 202.546.4654
  • annzabaldo@me.com
    
    
• Trish Becker-Hafnor Executive Director The Cohousing Association of the United States
  • trish@cohous.org
    
    

Questions Asked 

• How does cohousing differ from the "55 and above communities"? Are there similarities?
• Please describe how you achieve racial and economic diversity for the good of the whole community. Most co-housing communities I visited were quite homogenious
• So does the neighborhood or community discuss and decide as a group intentionally about future life changes such as aging and caregiving needs and supports?
• How do you find people to setup a cohousing community? If people move, how are new residents selected?
• how many people total? We understand as you explained family numbers change births, deaths etc?
• I love co-housing…Visited two in VT when our daughter went to school there.  I believe retirement and aging is less about money and much more about age diverse community
• So is this community totally filled or do openings become available, not clear how this works?
• Could you explain what you mean by " Earning equity in your shares?"
• What happens if a resident is no longer able to perform tasks and even assist others in the cohousing? Are they required to leave if they no longer have anything to offer?
• 1988 is this the 1988 book you mean when you say it is all in and collated in that book?
• Speaking of death,  Iona in DC  is hosting an End of Life Expo Sat Nov 4 to discuss how to plan for a good death.  All day speakers and exhibit hall over lunch. Contact : www.iona.org/event/end-of-life-expo/.  Co Housing and end of life planning prolongs living
• In cohousing, can you own your house or apartment?

Chat Transcript

12:08:03     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods https://a.co/d/cTJ9Q7y

12:10:04     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : The Cohousing Association of the United States https://www.cohousing.org/

12:19:14     From  Lee De Cola   to   Hosts and panelists : Takoma MD or WA?

12:19:36     From  Trish Becker-Hafnor   to   Hosts and panelists : MD

12:21:37     From  Raines Cohen   to   Hosts and panelists : Maybe try stop sharing and start again might reduce the lag

12:27:11     From  Lee De Cola   to   Hosts and panelists : what state?

12:27:58     From  Trish Becker-Hafnor : This is MD - outside DC

12:30:57     From  Bonnie McClellan : in Greenbelt?

12:31:26     From  Patricia C   to   Hosts and panelists : 60s

12:31:53     From  Lee De Cola   to   Hosts and panelists : what kind of health care services are onsite?

12:31:58     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Here is the website to Ann's community https://takomavillage.org/ its actually in Washington DC just on the border

12:32:37     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Here is the link to the https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1Z0LIGr1k22VYhyFyIMq9UqCKzsN9v18P&femb=1&ll=45.53896266725395%2C-106.4272331317665&z=4

12:35:03     From  Catherine Freedberg   to   Hosts and panelists : WHAT HAPPENS AS OLDER FOLKS’ HEALTH BEGINS TO FAIL?

12:39:26     From  Lee De Cola   to   Hosts and panelists : healthcare services & facilities?

12:43:43     From  Tracee Garner   to   Hosts and panelists : I was thinking about this how other residents should not be tasked with caregivers, but if pay is involved and the person agrees, has this  happened?

12:49:24     From  Lee De Cola   to   Hosts and panelists : 'we' don't do death really great...

12:51:10     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Here is the directory of all existing communities https://www.cohousing.org/directory/wpbdp_category/comm/

12:51:28     From  Madhu Mehta : Village movement helping comunity

12:52:00     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Create Cohousing https://www.cohousing.org/create-cohousing/create-it/

12:52:27     From  Lee De Cola   to   Hosts and panelists : show the interactive map - it's great.

12:52:57     From  Trish Becker-Hafnor : https://bit.ly/cohocommons

12:54:35     From  Ann Zabaldo   to   Hosts and panelists : Interested in cohousing?  Contact Ann Z 202.546.4654. annzabaldo@me.com

12:55:12     From  Ann Zabaldo   to   Hosts and panelists : http://www.takomavillage.org

12:55:51     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : From Ann Zabaldo to All Panelists 12:55 PM

Interested in cohousing?  Contact Ann Z 202.546.4654. annzabaldo@me.com

http://www.takomavillage.org

12:56:35     From  Lorraine Faris : Cohousing of Greater Baltimore is a forming senior community.  Contact us at baltocoho@gmail.com

12:57:00     From  Trish Becker-Hafnor : Cohousinginstitute.org

12:57:31     From  Ann Zabaldo   to   Hosts and panelists : Takoma Village will have a virtual tour Saturday, December 2, 2023.  In Nov. go to our website and look for upcoming events,

12:57:50     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : THE COHOUSING INSTITUTE https://cohousinginstitute.org/

12:58:44     From  Raines Cohen : In my cohousing neighborhood, we have a number of older members and one pays their housekeeper to cook common meals; for others we say “you don’t have to stand up and lift heavy pots and cook anymore” and they find other ways to contribute. It is all about the relationships.

12:59:26     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : dixcy bosley 12:53 PM 

Speaking of death,  Iona in DC  is hosting an End of Life Expo Sat Nov 4 to discuss how to plan for a good death.  All day speakers and exhibit hall over lunch. Contact : www.iona.org/event/end-of-life-expo/.  Co Housing and end of life planning prolongs living

13:00:05     From  Raines Cohen : (Blush) more info on my website: https://www.AgingInCommunity.com/ - will be in touch

13:01:20     From  Catherine Freedberg   to   Hosts and panelists : THANK YOU FOR DISCUSSION OF WHAT HAPPENS AS ELDERS FAIL. AS WE ALL KNOLW, THERE ARE VERY FEW PLACES THAT ACCEPT DIRECT ENTRY TO ASSISTED OR SKILLED NURSING. I WLOULD PARTICULARLY LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT  SUCH RESOURCES IN DC AREA.

13:02:21     From  Mary-Elizabeth Harmon : I'm preparing to launch VerticalVillageAlliance.org in early 2024 for renters across incomes.

13:02:53     From  Raines Cohen : “Beacon Hill” Villages are great… getting existing neighborhoods organized to take care of each other and organize help. But you end up still with caregivers doing lots of driving, and as you say many don’t put the money up to join until they need services, and that model never works for anything that operates like “insurance.” Some Villages have become organizing on-ramps leading to the creation of cohousing.

13:02:55     From  Trish Becker-Hafnor   to   Steve Gurney - ProAging Community(Direct Message) : Steve I will need to hop off by 10 after at the latest. I have another meeting. Sorry to not hang around - this is great!

13:03:42     From  Mary-Elizabeth Harmon : A central part of vertical villages, as I see them, is connecting people to in-home / community-based medical care.

13:03:57     From  Raines Cohen : 66 units at Eastlake Village in Atlanta (it was planned to be 2 communities). Eastern Village in Silver Spring, MD is pretty big. Ithaca EcoVillage in NY has multiple cohousing neighborhoods

13:04:31     From  Leah Daily : Thank you so much for another informative session.  I am sorry I have to run to another meeting.

13:05:54     From  Raines Cohen : Mary-Elizabeth: Exciting, will connect you to the emerging Passageways to Elderhood Alliance (PEAL) that includes a former national Village Network Boardmember who saw the need for the type of work you are doing.

13:06:09     From  dixcy bosley : Steve, you are the best!  Always exuberant.

13:06:27     From  Mary-Elizabeth Harmon : Thank you Raines.

13:07:04     From  Trish Becker-Hafnor : Learn more about cohousing at The Commons - the 10th of every month @10am MT (free!) https://bit.ly/cohocommons

13:07:07     From  Diane Bowen : Thank so much for the info!

13:07:53     From  Steve Gurney - ProAging Community : Takoma Village will have a virtual tour Saturday, December 2, 2023.  In Nov. go to our website and look for upcoming events, https://takomavillage.org/

13:08:00     From  Raines Cohen : There are a few rental Cohousing neighborhoods, and some homeowners rent out homes or have roommates. Just don’t confuse this movement (as some headline-writers do) with #coliving where people share under one roof, renting rooms or beds typically.

13:08:05     From  Mary-Elizabeth Harmon : Raines. My email address is hello@villagecompany360.com

13:09:04     From  Catherine Freedberg   to   Hosts and panelists : FANTASTIC DISCUSSION. THANK YOU.