Clarion call:

for people interested in Auburn, CA Cohousing.

Despite high home prices across the country, there is still economical cohousing out there, and I believe there will be more in the future (see upcoming book by Charles Durrett, et al., Community-Enhanced Design). But the best way to get in on economical cohousing is always to get in on the ground floor. July 13, 2021 is the big kick-off event for cohousing in Auburn, CA, and this project will go forward if we have more than 50 people interested in Auburn Cohousing. We are already expecting a turnout of about 50 locals who just want to see how the initial meeting goes, including many county employees. We encourage all interested people to attend! This project was started by Placer County officials who have seen that cohousing communities are indeed very high-functioning neighborhoods and see the benefit to regional land-use modeling.



Click for more information about this kick-off event.

Q: What is the secret of making cohousing successful over the years? What makes it a village?

A: Thinking through each step of human behavior, which people can accomplish better with others than by themselves, then think through what they want to accomplish on their own, and making that even easier.

(excerpt from interview)

Click to listen to the interview

This is a 5-week online course by Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC)

REGISTER NOW

It was a big success in April by FIC to hold a seminar for folks starting a new ecovillage or cohousing and for whom economics is too often a big impediment. There are many nascent cohousing groups in this predicament. This is not about coliving or shared housing, although they certainly happen in cohousing. This is about starting a new $5–15M community.

Carolyn and Jack Salmon are founding members of Quimper Village in Port Townsend, WA. They have lived in a variety of housing types over their 50 years of marriage, and they find at this time in their lives, senior co-housing is meeting their needs. It provides a full and comfortable life AND their adult children are happy they are in a senior co-housing community.

In this interview, Carolyn and Jack discuss what senior cohousing is, how to get started and go from an idea to a finished community, and how the community supports its residents and helps them age successfully.

Listen to the radio

Watch the video

"I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in identifying and exploring various aspects of aging and how one might go about successfully preparing for them. The course opened my eyes and gave me a logical way to think about aging and particularly how cohousing might be a good solution to some of the issues surrounding it. Charles is extremely enthusiastic about imparting his years of knowledge, experience, and wisdom on the subject thereby providing an enormous amount of valuable information. I liked the structure of the class with each session focusing on a specific topic that included appropriate homework assignments. Another benefit was the interaction among the attendees. I really enjoyed getting to know them and in fact, we are still meeting on a periodic basis to continue sharing our activities and experiences related to cohousing." –––Elissa Cohen, 2020 participant

"In this SG1 process we had the privilege of meeting and being guided by Charles Durrett, one of the architects who has contributed the most to the understanding of the Senior Cohousing phenomenon worldwide and probably one of the best qualified person, given his experience in the design and life itself as a cohouser, to train people interested in creating and facilitating the construction of communities of this type.

For those who have in mind creating cohousing communities, this facilitation workshop is excellent and highly recommended. The methodology developed in the Study Group 1 process is very friendly, despite the intrinsic difficulty of social relationships in any community, as it enables the necessary closeness to successfully build relations and proximity, as well as the increase of understanding, enhanced skills and enlightened empathy to generate spaces for listening and consensual debate, essentials for life in community." –––Gabriela Rosay, 2020 participant

REGISTER NOW

Mountain View Cohousing has one house for sale.

If you're interested, please contact Susan Burwen at susan@burwen.com

or (650) 255-4360.

If there's homelessness in your town or region this is the go-to book. Once you've read it, give it to your local politicians. Also, make sure it's in your local bookstores and libraries. See the value of making a village instead of a shelter.

Click to purchase a copy

'The Best of Both Worlds' explores the lives of residents in four cohousing communities in Northern California. It also examines senior cohousing communities and how living in them improves the quality of life for residents. We are reducing the price of the DVD to $19.95 while supplies last. It is a perfect video by award-winning filmmaker John De Graaf to show to prospective new members. This fun 27-min film tells the story of cohousing in short order.