logo and subheading: housing with a common ground
   

Home
News and events
What is cohousing?
About us
Matchmaking questionnaire
Newsletters
Contact us
Links

What is cohousing?

Cohousing is a term given to a particular kind of community in which everyone has their own house or flat but also some shared space with shared facilities. Together they manage the project as a whole.

The shared space is often a common house with room to meet and eat together and it may have other communal facilities such as laundry, workshops, play area, guest rooms etc. Each community decides what it wants, can afford and can find space for. The design of the space and the social and management activities built into a project are intended to help people to mix, meet and share responsibility for how they live, to build a supportive community and to benefit from resources held in common.

Communities often have a further unifying interest, such as a shared business, ecology or spirituality. Cohousing is fairly strong in Denmark and the USA and there are projects in other European countries, but in the UK the path to cohousing is not easy. There are a handful of established projects here - all different - but interest is growing and there are several emerging projects at various stages of planning around the country.

This Brighton group is in the very early stages. There have been other local groups interested in the ecovillage idea and there are more established local co-operative housing groups, which may have overlapping aims with cohousing. (See links).