I got this email from someone named Milind Shah, who is a member of the Brooklyn
Cohousing Group. I know there are people out there interested in co-housing.
"We are attempting to create an innovative new way of community building in Brooklyn through housing.
I thought that many of your readership might be interested in the cohousing project, as well as a free lecture and presentation we are having on October 12 at at 7 p.m. at the Brooklyn Friends Meeting House (110 Schermerhorn Street near Boerum Pl).
Our website has our mission statement and other
details http://www.brooklyncohousing.org.The idea of cohousing is not new. It has been around since the 60’s
and is more popular in Europe but there are some cohousing groups in
the US, a few in urban area, which is what we are attempting to do.The group is looking for 20 – 30 families willing to work towards
building this community. More information on cohousing in general can
be found at http://www.cohousing.org"
Those of your who are interested in Brooklyn Cohousing may want to check out the article on the front page of the 11/30/08 New York Times Real Estate section: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/realestate/30cov.html?emc=eta10
Sorry is this is a repeat. My husband and I may be relocating to New York City and are interested in finding out more about your community. Please call (301-565-0674) or e-mail. Thanks, Gail & Jerry
It’s exciting to see a new effort creating cohousing in Brooklyn in particular and NYC in general. A condo model with private homes and extensive common areas, like a common house, this form of “intentional neighborhood” adds new choices and lets us live simpler, greener lives… trying to recreate old-time neighborhoods.
As I’ve been following this still-young-in-the-U.S. movement for the past decade, there have been some other attempts over the years, but it is a challenging market, given housing prices and limitations on development. Similar issues have stymied efforts in San Francisco proper (but there’s quite a bit in Oakland, just across the Bay), Marin, and Silicon Valley.
Though there post says there are “some” cohousing groups in the U.S., it’s worth noting that there are nearly 100, mostly in college towns in blue states, but rapidly spreading… more than 100 are under development, and partnerships with developers has reduced turnaround time to as little as a couple of years, once the site and development rights are secured.
Raines Cohen, Cohousing Coach
Planning for Sustainable Communities
at Berkeley (CA) Cohousing
Boardmember, Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC) – click my name above for link