We advise anyone who
is considering starting their own cohousing community to
educate themselves as much as possible.
Get educated In addition to cohousing websites, there are several great
books including:
- Cohousing
- The Cohousing Handbook
- Head,
Heart and Hands
- Senior Cohousing.
Successful cohousing
groups have most of these on their bookshelves. see
resources
Visit built communities Equally important are visits to built communities. The
Cohousing Association of the U.S. sponsors excellent
bus tours, and the Association’s website
also lists community contacts for arranging individual tours.
Most built communities are happy to meet and talk with future
cohousers.
Attend training workshops Training workshops are also invaluable. In California,
we occasionally offer a weekend “Getting It Built” workshop, and similar trainings are offered by Wonderland
Hill Development Company in Boulder, Colorado, and by the Cohousing Association
of the U.S.
Find land After doing its homework, the next major step for a forming
group is to find land. This means getting out and searching
vacant or underused land parcels, and working with an experienced
land broker, talking with City planners and with any other
sympathetic souls.
Create a partnership In California, CoHousing Partners can help assess the feasibility
and costs of a particular site, as well as to help negotiate
a land purchase agreement. Once a site has been secured,
we will typically create a formal partnership agreement
with a cohousing group, detailing our mutual roles and responsibilities.
Outside of California, Wonderland Hill offers similar services,
sometimes on a long-distance consulting basis.
We wish you all the best in your quest for community. We would be happy to speak with you about your project goals. Please call: Kathryn McCamant , President of CoHousing Partners, 241 Commercial St, CA 95959 530-478-1970.
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