The Cohousing Company

May 2024 Newsletter

Spring is here! Earth Fest & cohousing outside fun!

Upcoming Events

May 2024

• May 4-5: National Cohousing Open House Day

• May 5: Nevada City Cohousing Tour led by Charles Durrett 2–4PM @ 200 Redbud Way, Nevada City CA 95959

• May 23: The Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction's 2024 Future of Building Industry—Opportunities of an Aging Population—Charles Durrett as Keynote Speaker (Talk starts at 8:15AM)

• June 13: AIA San Francisco Housing Forum—Charles Durrett as speaker and moderator

• July 8: Save the date - Talk on Solutions to Homelessness at Clio's Bookstore in Oakland, CA



• July & August: Antioch University Classes (more info below)

Newt Crossing Site Design Workshop Was a Big Success!

Port Townsend, WA

Not so much of a site design workshop to work out where the houses will go, because there was only so much there, there. Like 1/4 of an acre for 6 new houses, 1/2 of an acre for all of the 8 houses and Common House. But surrounded by 17 acres of woods, so there’s plenty of beautiful world there. And even with so little room at the flat spot, the exact crescent took hours of consideration that we kept coming back to—until it finally clicked into place.

We focused more on figuring all other solutions to the plethora (hundreds) of horizontal and vertical challenges on a hilly and complex site. But it was extremely gratifying when it all fell into place like a Rubik’s cube. Hundreds of decisions and a sophisticated plan weaving macro places (the Common House, the amphitheater, the common terrace, the gardens, the forest) together with plenty of not so micro micro places like the bicycle shed, the BBQ, and the fire pit. All play a role in the setting for community, and privacy—and in the woods. 

A very thoughtful group, and an excellent site plan for a small eight-unit cohousing community. It reminds me of a small village and lots of small cohousing projects that I saw in Denmark, mostly associated with small farms. And since they are seriously planning to steward the land, it’s like the small cohousing associated with the small farms. 

They will have about 4 homes available, so anyone interested in piccolo magnifico cohousing (Newt Crossing), email Eva Holm at newt@olympus.net. Newt is the future: previously single-family houses zoned to accommodate living in the woods alone, but now a small village in the forest – and close to one of the coolest towns I know, Port Townsend, Washington, with the greatest coffee shops, bookstores, and wooden boat makers. 

A Typical Subdivision Site Plan

Prioritizes access for cars, large & private houses, no shared space

Cohousing Site Plan

Prioritizes appropriately-sized homes, shared spaces for community interaction, conservation

Aerial view of Tornevangsgarden

6-unit cohousing in Denmark. (See page 85 of Creating Cohousing for more) 

Port Townsend - A Vibrant Little Sea Town

View of Mount Baker behind Port Townsend. Photo by: Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times

Photo by: Port Townsend Creative District

Port Townsend waterfront. Photo by Rick Lawler

A sample page from the Site Design Programatic Write-Up

Neurodiverse Cohousing

The first neurodiverse cohousing in-person presentation in the U.S., based on our new book, One Life, Live It. New Village Press, New York, NY, due out Spring, 2025.

On Monday March 25, 2024, Charles Durrett gave an in-person presentation to a number of families with neurodiverse adult children at the local non-profit, EnGaged: Special Needs Services and Advocates, and it was a rewarding time!

Paul Platner, the founder of EnGaged services and the guardian of his grandson Gage, who has Down Syndrome, is dedicated to building a new supportive cohousing community for children with developmental disabilities, and so were others there. Thanks to his hospitality, The Cohousing Company was able to present a vision to families looking to give their child the grace of a full life of purpose, belonging, and community.

Paul and his grandson, Gage.

The following weekend, those who were seriously committed to exploring cohousing as an option for their son, daughter, or grandchild gathered at Wolf Creek Lodge Cohousing in Grass Valley. There is growing momentum for building a better life for children, and adults, with neurodiverse conditions.



Thanks, Wolf Creek Cohousing for your hospitality, your tours, and particularly to Richard and Gail Carter who welcomed us into their home, common home, common art gallery, and gardens. 

Going Back to Denmark

Presentations on Cohousing

Off to Denmark again this summer. Below are some potential and confirmed presentations I will be giving there.



The Grundtvig Forum

Nikolaj Grundtvig is the second best known Danish philosopher in Denmark after Søren Kierkegaard. Grundtvig is best known for playing a major role in getting Denmark onto the path of cooperation as a culture. He made the compelling case in the 1800s that if you own one cow, then you should pay the same price for feed grain as the bulk rate if you owned 100 cows. So, he convinced most of the small farmers to start cooperatives so they could pay the highly reduced grain price.

Secondly, he became best known for starting the “Folk High School” system in Denmark, a night school for farmers, mostly teaching Danish and cooperation. They are resident schools for adults to further their education, often post-university. “You are a nurse now, how do you become a head nurse?” and 100 other career or self-study advances. Many nascent modern Danish cohousing communities started in a Folk High School setting. There are now over 70 Folk High Schools in Denmark.

These two moves, cooperation and continuing education with peers have done as much to catapult Danish political advancement in education and other important incremental advancement as anything else. Grundtvig’s teachings put Denmark on the path to start cohousing, as well. So I’ll be speaking to how his influence is manifesting worldwide through cohousing.

Tentatively schedule for the morning of June 24, 2024. Stay tuned.

Skråplanet, cohousing in Denmark

Confirmed presentations:

Presentation at the Vandkunsten Studio: Friday, June 28th

Vandkunsten are the Danish architects that have designed more cohousing in Denmark than any other architects (Martin Rubow has designed the most senior cohousing communities there). We will be talking and sharing with them best practices in the U.S. and they will be sharing the best practices in Denmark. Stay tuned for more details.

Presentation to half-a-dozen new cohousing communities at Skråplanet

Skråplanet is the second oldest cohousing in Denmark, started by Jan Gudmand Høyer. They are hosting a presentation for ½ a dozen newly moved-in groups, and groups that are currently planning a new community. I will be talking about the history of cohousing in Denmark, and some of the many renditions around the world. The presentation is at 2 PM, June 30 at 3500 Værløse, Denmark. All are welcomed.

Upcoming Learning Opportunities with Charles Durrett

With Antioch University Continuing Education

Why Books Matter

A Case for Books

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The very first cohousing in the U.S., Muir Commons in Davis, CA would not have happened without the book, in its current edition, called Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities in every Davis bookstore and library. Every library in that town (almost 10) had the book. Sacramento would not have happened if my mother, Rosemary, the ultimate grassroots organizer (she organizer her bra-making union during WWII! “It was hard to get support for that project” she would say…) had not gone to every Sacramento bookstore (about 25 in 1991) and asked, “Do you have this book?” “Can you order this book?” “Can I leave this book on consignment?” South Park cohousing would not have been built without that.

I know that I’m going counterculture here, but there seems to be a correlation.

In this era of information chaos, it’s time to bring a little balance back into our information consumption.

 A young journalist, Hannah Quinton called about a month ago with a new and provocative question: "Why did cohousing have such a rapid growth when your first book came out in 1988 than it does now?" "Then," she began to answer her own question. "Is it because in the beginning, there was only one book available, a book with a beginning, a middle, and an end. That is, a full story. A complete scenario of how to make it." "This is how you start a new project, launch it, manage it through rough seas, land it, and settle."

Now, everyone just goes to the internet and gets an entire mumbo jumbo, gobbly gook of information. Some of it, by experts, most of it not. Most of it is anecdotal and under-considered. Some of it is contradictory but who knows the difference. People call things cohousing that are not. Nobody but The Cohousing Company seems to help nascent groups or developers who say they are cohousing but are not course-correct. Luckily Sage Cohousing, the former Senior Cohousing non-profit, certified what senior cohousing is and what it isn’t so that people can’t get away with fooling seniors (see the book Cohousing Communities).

The reporter was entirely correct. The cohesiveness of the information about cohousing without a book is gone. Random, incomplete, chaotic, and piecemeal would best describe the info on the net at best. I see that, when asked about the same community, one person on the internet will say we have too little parking, and another person from the same community will say we have way too much parking. One data point or even two does not make legitimate data. In book form, work is checked and double-checked. I have a new book coming out about cohousing for the I/DD population. That book is now sent out to fifteen different expert reviewers. Every statement is being checked, double-checked, and triple checked.

You can barely find the definition of cohousing on the internet—not a smart one. It’s on page 8 of Creating Cohousing, and the introduction in Cohousing Communities. You can’t find the definition of Study Group One. It’s chapter 7 of The Senior Cohousing Handbook. Study Group One is the number one way that The Danes use to help seniors get into cohousing. There is no good important discussion of the optimal size of a cohousing community on the net. It’s on pages 99 of the Senior Cohousing Handbook.k and 49, 101, 145, 175, 255, 295 of the Cohousing Communities. And there is no discussion about the important metrics which ascertain whether a cohousing is functioning or not. See pages 364-392 in Cohousing Communities.

In Denmark, the size of the community is the number one consideration for the long-term success of a cohousing community. Read a book, know something. Google something about cohousing—get confused. Social science is harder to find on the net. The story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end.

In one town, now with one half of the bookstores that it used to have, the local craft store sold 35 copies of the book to get that project started. The challenge is more than getting the book into bookstores. I guess you have to imagine helping people realize the incentive of reading the book. Quimper Village Senior Cohousing asks everyone who is considering buying a house there to read the book first. They have plenty of copies to loan out. And there are many reasons why that project is considered “State of the Art of Senior Cohousing” in the U.S., but the fact that everyone comes to the table with foundational information, wedded to the notion and the understanding of a high-functioning neighborhood and have both feet in the future makes a big difference.

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 and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) directly to get bulk discounts (they have a 40% discount right now), and I find that successful projects get started when lots of folks do this fun homework. I usually need to give a dozen copies of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities, Senior Cohousing: A Community Approach to Independent Living and Cohousing Communities: Designing for High-Functioning Neighborhoods 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, and most importantly makes for a better project.

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 today largely because the bookstores in town have sold more than 1,000 copies of Creating Cohousing: Building Sustainable Communities and the San Francisco area has over 20 cohousing communities largely because the book has sold more than 2,000 copies there.

Read a book and know something.

The article “It Takes a Village,” by Hannah can be seen in Klipsun Magazine, April 2024. 

Bellingham cohousing arranged (3) book signings in the local bookstores when that project was being organized. Bellingham moved in fully upon completion.

And it's a very handsome cohousing.

Thank you,



Charles Durrett

The Cohousing Company