John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... 
Hearthstone is a cohousing community on the site of the former Eltich's Gardens amusent park in northwest Denver.
Would you live in cohousing? Vote at end of this blog.
Charles Durrett’s electric bill last year was a negative $83.
And Durrett lives in California, where electric costs in 2009 were about 35 percent higher than in Colorado.
So how did the utility effectively pay Durrett last year for turning his lights on, using his computer and all of the other things & devices that use electricity?
Durrett lives in a cohousing community, where residents not only share common space such as playgrounds, parks and typically a house where meals are shared from time-to-time with neighbors, but increasingly they are embracing sustainable features.
“Our neighbors got together and we bought solar panels together and we have a very heightened level of insulation,” in their homes, Durrett.
That is only fitting that he lives in a cohousing community, because in many ways he is the father of the movement. Durrett, an architect by training, introduced the word “cohousing” more than 20 years ago, along with his wife, fellow architect Kathryn McCamant. The concept was born in Denmark, but spread to other countries quickly.
Boulder hosting cohousing convention
Both Durrett and McCamant will be keynote speakers at the 10th annual Cohousing Association of the United States conference, which will be held in Boulder. More than 300 people are expected to attend the conference, which includes people from 39 states and five countries. It will feature more than 60 workshops. (For more on the conference, please visit this earlier on cohousing conference coming to Boulder.)
There are currently about 120 cohousing communities across the country, with more than a dozen of them in Colorado. In total, the Colorado communities have more than 400 houses from Lafayette to Durango. At least two, Aria in Denver and Geos in Arvada, are on the drawing board.
Cohousing embracing sustainability like never before
Like every aspect of home building, cohousing has been hammered by the economy, said Jim W. Leach, head of Lafayette-based Wonderland Home Development, a long-time developer and advocate of cohousing and the chairman of this year’s conference.
“We are finding a lot more interest in cohousing,” Leach said. “The cultural changes are being brought on by this major problem with the economy we have had and with the continuing awareness of global problems, related to global warming…And (environmental concerns) are not being helped by having all of that oil being dumped in the Gulf.”
Cohousing out of the closet
He said the original slogan of cohousing was “Creating a better world, one neighborhood at the time,” while at Wonderland, he said their mantra has been that “Community is the secret ingredient in sustainability. Only it’s not so secret anymore. It’s kind out out of the closet.”
Leach said more and more people are realizing that the government and big business – although they have their roles – are not going to create a sea change in the way we tread on the environment. Rather, it is neighborhood communities that can serve as the “building blocks” of getting the country on the path of sustainability, he said.
“Leaders in the sustainability movement are recognizing the importance of local communities in solving the environmental, social and economic challenges facing our planet,” Leach said. “The cohousing movement has learned a lot about community building at the neighborhood level, and it has much to share with the broader sustainability community.”
Small means no economies of scale
Because cohousing communities tend to be small – 20 to 40 units – they do not enjoy the economies of scale advantages of large production builders, Leach said, as well as the common amenities driving up costs. Overall, they are probably 5 percent to 10 percent higher, he said, although he said they are still less expensive to build than separate, custom homes.
“We’re somewhere in the middle,” Leach said. “But of course our cost of ownership is much lower.”
And that will only continue, as cohousing residents and developers increasingly look for ways to become more sustainable, said Durrett, who last year created more electricity in his home than he used.
“These days, impeded by the downturn in the housing market, we are re-thinking how to survive in the market and succeed in the market,” Durrett said. He noted he recently returned from Canada, where he is designing two cohousing communities. “They are smaller, leaner and less-toxic tighter homes that get right to the point.”
Modern cohousing homes are likely to sport solar panels, super-insulation, small boilers that are barely needed, passive solar heating, tighter construction, and energy efficient heat exchangers. But what makes the biggest difference is simply building smaller homes with very efficient designs, he said. Cohousing, with its shared facilities, easily lends itself to smaller homes, he said.
Modular construction goes hand-in-hand with cohousing
Also, increasingly cohousing builders are looking toward modular construction, where much of the home is built in factories and then trucked to the site. “It is definitely the future,” Durrett said. “That is a design development that is improving on a monthly and weekly basis. There are several projects right now that if not totally modular, at least the insulated panels are built in a factory and then erected on the site. That is one of the places for saving costs and an important one.”
Originally based on a collaborative business model where residents and developers shared risk and owners could invest as little as 5 percent up front, over the past two years owners must front as much as 20 percent of the purchase price before groundbreaking.
More rentals may be on horizon
At the same time, construction costs have gone up. Where individual units at the Hearthstone development in the old Elitch’s Gardens property sold from $125,000 to $300,000, a similar development today would sell from $300,000 to $400,000, experts said. That makes affordability an issue that must be dealt with. One possibility is cohousing communities based on a rental model, leaders say.
“But what’s the cost of a functional neighborhood?” asked Durrett, noting that parents in a cohousing community typically trade formal “play dates” that require driving, to no structured activities at all. Instead, i children naturally come together and plan their own activities in a safe, convenient place.
And it’s not just the kids, but the adults, too.
Cohousing: Back to the future
“Last night, 34 people spontaneously got together for a bike ride,” Durrett said. “We’re not doing anything new, just making consciously what used to happen naturally. Cohousing gives people an opportunity to live lighter on the planet by living in a neighborhood where many social, recreational and food needs come from on site. There’s no need to go to a restaurant; we all enjoy eating together in the common house.”
Colorado’s climate is especially ideal for many green technologies such as passive solar, photovoltaic panels, and even wind, said Byan Bowen, of Bryan Bowen Architects.
Colorado ideal for cohousing
“Colorado has a perfect climate for solar because of low cooling loads and availability of sun in cold weather,” Bowen said. Some communities can achieve net zero energy performance, producing energy equal to the amount they consume. Many have done an excellent job of sharing connections rather than providing single systems for each unit. “Instead of seven units with one mechanical system each, seven units will share a single large mechanical system.” And Colorado’s new Solar Garden law allows groups of individuals (such as cohousing communities) to collectively own solar arrays and cash in on potential benefits from the state’s net-metering laws and tariffs.
Cohousing communities also produce much of their own food through shared gardening and landscaping — the Silver Sage community in Boulder has a “highly edible” landscape, Bowen said.
Existing neighborhoods are cohousing candidates
It’s not just new communities that can adopt the cohousing model. Some older neighborhoods also lend themselves to cooperative living. “Some cities in older neighborhoods where houses have front porches and proximity can make it work,” said Lisa Poley, president of cohousing association that is holding the conference in Boulder. “It can be a strategy for revitalizing, reviving and regenerating urban neighborhoods that have gone down hill. It’s not gentrification, it’s revitalization, and it’s another thread of cohousing’s future.”
Samuel Assefa, City of Boulder Senior Urban Designer, pointed to the Washington Village in north Boulder as an example of urban retrofitting. Several historic houses are being preserved in a cohousing environment, and the city encourages both retrofits and new cohousing development to advance the city’s sustainable goals.
“It’s a central theme of our ‘three-legged stool’ of development: environmental, social and economic. Cohousing provides all three simultaneously.”
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Community # Homes Yr. Completed City
Nyland 42 1993 Lafayette
Greyrock Commons 30 1997 Fort Collins
Harmony Village 27 1997 Golden
Highline Crossing 40 1997 Littleton
Nomad 11 2000 Boulder
Heartwood 24 2000 Boulder
River Rock Commons 34 2000 Fort Collins
Hearthstone 33 2002 Denver
Casa Verde 34 2004 Colorado Springs
Wild Sage 34 2004 Boulder
Silver Sage Village 16 2008 Boulder
Lyons Valley Village 18 2008 Lyons
Washington Village 33 In Development Boulder
Boulder Creek Commons Retrofit Boulder
Aria tbd tbd Denver
Geos tbd tbd Arvada
It should be noted that the Dahlia Lane Community in Denver was cohousing built in the early ’50s. By 1989, it devolved into an HOA, but it remains very charming.
I think the second paragraph should end with “Colorado” and not California. Otherwise, nice article.
I’m having trouble with knowing whether the ‘60’s are trying to make a comeback or if it is the defeated communists that are again promoting the failed communal state? I’ll bet it is – BOTH! One key ingredient for its success is already in play – POT, WEED, etc! Smacks of things wonderful. Don’t say “smack”. Watch out Jane Fonda will want to lead the movement.