• Cohousing communities are small-scale neighborhoods. They balance personal privacy and living amidst people. Cohousers are committed to knowing and caring about each other. Communities often include singles, couples, families with children and elders.
  
  
• Units offer convenient access to shared space. The "common house" has facilities such as:

• Residents may choose to cook and eat together in the common house.
  
  
• Members help design, plan, and manage the community.
  
  
• Each home is fully self-sufficient with a complete kitchen.

Cohousing began in Denmark over 25 years ago. The goal was to to create cooperative housing that accommodates changing families and lifestyles.

In 1988, Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett brought the concept to North America. Since then, many cohousing communities have been established in the US and Canada. According to McCamant and Durrett, these projects are

"based on democratic principles that espouse no ideology other than the desire for a more practical and social home environment."