Getting Started - Overview
Using professionals has been shown to save members money over doing it themselves. The
development process is risky and complex. Working with experienced professionals
reduces the risk and increases the likelihood that the project will be built on time
and on budget. However there are things a group can do to get their project started.
Taking these initial steps will help build a strong foundation for your project -
each step builds on the next.
Read the books:
Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves by McCament and Durrett
The Cohousing Handbook Revised Edition: Building a Place for Community by Chris and
Kelly ScottHanson
Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to Grow Ecovillages and Intentional
Communities by Diana Leafe Christian
The Senior Cohousing Handbook: A Community Approach to Independent Living, 2009 Edition,
by Charles Durrett
Visit Completed Communities Members who live in cohousing are generally happy
to provide tours. You will find information about how to arrange for a tour by checking the
individual website for each of the completed communities listed on the Canadian Cohousing
Network website
http://www.cohousing.ca/detailed.htm
The Cohousing Association of the U.S. sponsors regular bus tours (in the U.S.), and the
website www.cohousing.org
also lists community contacts for arranging individual tours.
Reach Out to your Network Contact friends and associates. Use free or very
low cost advertising (community group newsletters for example) and hold some information
meetings. Marketing cohousing is about inviting people to find out more and if they are
interested in the concept, inviting them to participate. Providing information and helping
them feel welcome are the most important ingredients. The Building Community with Cohousing
DVD (noted above) or Power Point presentations (such as the one available in the
Resources section on the CDC website) are good tools to help educate people about
the concept.
Coalesce a Core Group Identify who is willing to take the time, spend the
money and expend the energy to ground the project in reality. Open a bank account. Collect
a small fee to help cover costs of room rental, food, babysitting, etc. During this phase,
funds are invested as they are needed and costs should be kept as low as possible because
there is no guarantee that a project will ever be developed.
Establish Decision Making Protocols and Practices Learning the skills and
establishing protocols and practices on how you will make decisions together will support
you in having a joyful and successful process. Tree Bressen’s website is an excellent
resource with information relating to facilitation and consensus decision making. We
highly recommend her as a facilitator and facilitation trainer.
http://treegroup.info
Develop a Shared Intention, Vision and Mission Statement
This will help clarify your purpose, inform others what you are about and provide a
foundation to build on. See Tree’s website for information and suggested exercises.
Determine Site Criteria and Project Objective
What general area do you want to locate in? What type of housing do you want – apartment,
townhouse, single family? What services or amenities do you want to have located close by?
How many homes do you want in your community? Clearly defining your project objective will
help with site search and establishing project feasibility
Attend open houses
Attending open houses at new developments in the neighbourhoods of your choice will help
identify the likely costs. Determining the average cost per square foot for new homes in
the area will give you an idea of the likely per square foot cost of a cohousing home.
For example, if a new 1000 square foot townhouse is selling for $300,000, then the cost
per square foot for land and building is $300.
Document the information: make note of the date when you attended the open house, get
copies of brochures, information about prices and names of salespeople who you spoke with.
This information will be valuable for anyone you may hire in future to conduct a feasibility
study
A note on costs:
To date none of the cohousing developments in Canada have received any government or private
subsidies. The cohousing development process does not of itself generate below market priced
homes. Even though the development process does not include profit if the resident group is
the developer, the homes are generally of higher quality with more green-built features then
conventional housing, which makes them less costly to maintain and operate, but does
contribute to higher initial costs.
Cohousing homes are typically smaller than conventional homes, so even though the cost per
square foot may be somewhat higher than for conventional developments, the total cost may be
moderate for the area. The common amenities function as an extension to the private dwelling.
Including things like guest rooms, workshops, children’s play spaces and meeting rooms, makes
it possible for the individual homes to be smaller without negatively impacting lifestyle.
An aspect not often considered when looking at affordability is the cost of living. Because
of the social structure and access to shared resources, cohousing homes provide opportunities
for reducing living costs that are not available in conventional neighbourhoods (such as
car-sharing, bulk purchasing, shared child care, etc.). Even subsidized housing in
conventional developments will likely have higher living costs than cohousing homes. So,
developing a cohousing community contributes to the affordable housing continuum.
Determine whether you can afford the price of a home in your neighbourhood of choice. If prices are high you may want to consider another neighbourhood. Also consider how
small a space you could live with or perhaps the idea of sharing a home with one or more
households. Communal living arrangements within the cohousing context are quite common.
As well, renting out a bedroom can reduce housing costs and increase diversity. The
extensive common spaces make it easier to live in small or shared living arrangements.
Site Search
Work with a local real estate agent to identify some possible sites in the neighbourhood of
your choice. If you have questions about land use, talk with a planner in your local town or
city. They can help you identify what might be possible from a zoning perspective.
Collect Preliminary Financial Information
It takes money to develop a cohousing project. You need to know where that will come from
before purchasing land. If many of the members already own homes, then it is likely the
group will have the financial capacity to develop a project. If many of the members are
first time purchasers, then you may need to find a developer partner. You will likely need
to hire a professional who is knowledgeable about financing housing developments to help you
with this step.
Hire a Professional
If after following the above steps, you have determined that it looks like it might be feasible
to develop a community in the neighbourhood of your choice, then your next step would be to
hire a professional consultant, someone who has knowledge about the development process. CDC
cohousing development consulting can provide you with an in-depth feasibility study that will
help to identify what is required to make the project happen and guide you through the steps
to accomplish your goals.
Get a Free Consultation
to set up a 30 minute free consultation. We can help
get you started on the right foot. CDC has managed projects that have taken as little as 2 ½
years from initial meeting to move-in.
We know what it takes to support a forming group to
ground their vision in reality and generate the membership and financial resources required
to move forward and get the project built in a time and cost efficient manner. We provide
tools and protocols for effective decision-making, guidelines and professional support for
membership and marketing, legal, financial and organizational structures that facilitate a
smooth cohousing development process from start-up to completion.
