The Cohousing Company

Charles's Remark On His Effort Poland and Our Past Childcare Projects

Public Presentation on Our Effort in Creating Childcare Facilities in Poland for Young War Refugees

June 30th, 2022 5:00 PM at Heartwood Eatery Nevada City

There is a huge need to stem the tide of chaos and stress for the young war-torn Ukrainian children, and to mitigate it with warm and nurturing environments.

The good management of Heartwood Eatery, located on Commercial St, Nevada City, read of this project—Durrett Childcare Initiative—and asked that I do a short 1-hour synopsis of what it was like, what we were able to accomplish, and what is next. 

This is not a fundraiser event—the 3 projects that we are working on have been fully funded already. We just want to share our experiences with all of you. We believe that you’ll find them informative.

Please join us for this presentation to learn more about this heartfelt story and effort. It might be the only presentation about this trip.

“It was the best of times and it was the worst of times”

The best: Serving these young children, getting them the cozy and nurturing environments that they deserve. The camaraderie, coordinating the volunteers themselves, the glorious and good people. The mission creep, the moms, the children themselves, the Polish, the Ukrainian, and all the international friends we made there, as well as the Danish Refugee Council... and more—come find out!

The worst: The corruption, the politics, the trauma and sadness that surrounded us, and huge arms build up at the border, the mission creep; and more—come find out.

Other Updates in Cohousing: Table of Contents

June 2022

• Auburn Cohousing Updates

• Newfoundland Cohousing Updates

• Cohousing the Unhoused: Cal Poly Magazine Article



• Jewel Helping Hands Tiny Home Village in Spokane, WA

Auburn Cohousing Updates

Board of Supervisors Review

The Cohousing Company has recently completed our draft Pro Forma and Feasibility Design submission to Placer County for the Auburn Cohousing. The group has been moving forward with great momentum and consistently discussing with the county how they can not only keep this project affordable to the people of Auburn, but also how the cohousing project can benefit the town and the county.  

The group is now working hard to expand and keep the momentum going. Please spread the word to anyone you know (your email list) who might be interested in joining this high-functioning state-of-the-art cohousing community.

You can visit their website at http://auburncohousing.com/

or email information@auburncohousing.com

Newfoundland Cohousing Updates

Hybrid Design Workshops

The Cohousing Company has been working closely with the Newfoundland Cohousing group in Canada, and the in-person design workshops at the end of May were great. Prior. to these in-person workshops, we have led two virtual design workshops—Defining Site Activities and Defining Places—using Zoom, Conceptboard, and our most recent book Community-Enhanced Design. 

Right after he finished his effort in Poland rehabilitating old buildings into childcare spaces, Charles Durrett directly went to Newfoundland and stayed with the group for 10 days to conduct an intensive series of Design Workshops, including Site Design, Common House, Private House, Prioritization Workshop, and Design Closure Workshop. The group has been so great at taking initiative and helping us prepare for these workshops, including gathering materials that we would usually provide such as house wood blocks and printed out site plans, as well as studying our new book so intensely.

The ten days of back to back workshops were intense, but by the end of it you could see the ownership being instilled in the group, both emotionally and financially. Charles then came back to the office, and we finished the schematic design for both the common house and the private houses.

We are excited to see the group move forward, and you can keep up with them and find more information at  https://cohousingnl.wixsite.com/coho

“The whole thing is set up to acknowledge cooperation as a vehicle for making the world better for you as an individual,” Durrett said. “It turns out that a great deal of our individual interests are better served by making some decisions collectively.”

A pivotal moment in his Cal Poly education transformed Charles Durrett (Architecture ’82), leading him to embrace a housing model that is both innovative and incredibly traditional. Now, Durrett wants to bring that model back to San Luis Obispo as a potential solution for homelessness in the county.

Jewels Helping Hands Tiny Homes Village

Spokane, WA

After our public presentation in Spokane, we were approached by the very passionate Julie Garcia, the executive director of Jewels Helping Hands.

Her vision for her organization greatly resonates with ours, so we agreed to design a feasibility site plan for a tiny home village project that she has been working to submit for a public grant.

It is important to us that while the project has to be affordable, it also has to work socially. By placing a gathering node on the circulation path within each cluster of 8 tiny homes, we allow the future residents to have the autonomy to define what kind of social and support spaces they need. We also encourage the idea that the future residents would be the ones who build these outdoor furniture and structure—from picnic tables to trellises.



Recap of Our A Solution to Homelessness Talk Tour

San Luis Obispo, Spokane, & Seattle

"Having attended the informative and inspiring March 19th public presentation by Charles Durrett, " A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town," I am confident that Becky Jorgeson's vision could become a reality in our community"

Dan Dow, District Attorney of County of San Luis Obispo

Books by Charles Durrett

Books have played a major role from the beginning in terms of getting cohousing to this country and built in your town, starting with our first book Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves (The European Story). Bookstores normally play a key role in culture change in general, and cohousing is no exception.



Many groups have contacted the publisher (New Society Press) directly to get bulk discounts, and I find that successful projects get started when lots of folks do their homework. I usually need to give a dozen copies of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities and/or Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living away to planners, banks, neighbors, mayors, new residents, local architects, builders, and so on—to give them context. It saves the group thousands and thousands of hours, dollars, and delays. Cohousing is more than a sound bite; it is cultural pivot, and it takes folks doing some fun research first. Seattle and the surrounding areas have about a dozen cohousing communities largely because the bookstores in town have sold more than 500 copies of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities

Community-Enhanced Design: Cohousing and Other High-Functioning Neighborhoods

A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town

Also available HERE

Revitalizing Our Small Towns

Cohousing's role in positively effecting waning small towns.

Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities

with Kathryn McCamant

The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living

Also available in Spanish

State-Of-The-Art Cohousing: Lessons Learned from Quimper Village

with Alexandria Levitt

Happily Ever Aftering in Cohousing: A Handbook for Community Living

Finding A Site: Cohousing From the Ground Up

Growing Community: How to Find New Cohousing Members

The Cohousing Company Website