Boomers in Cohousing Interview in Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Placeholder image for Foundation for Intentional Community website.
Codicts Team
  • June 1, 2008
  • Sustainability

The Seattle P-I Reader’s Blog has a great interview with Cohousing Association Executive Director Craig Ragland on the topic of what cohousing has to offer baby boomers.

Craig gives the following benefits that cohousing offers:

  • It brings more meaning to my life. I share leadership of this community with 25 other adults, and we learn from each other and our 12 children constantly.
  • It’s fun. I’m not a big party person, but I get to enjoy parties here all the time.
  • It conserves resources and preserves natural spaces… here, I live in a modest-sized home on 11 acres of property. My home is about 1,100 square feet, but I share a common house (about 4,000 square feet), a barn (about 6,000 square feet), a few other outbuildings, a huge organic garden, an orchard, a forest, and a meadow. We share five meals per week in our common house, which means neither my wife nor I spend our time cooking or cleaning as much as we did before moving into cohousing. Our homes are all clustered on about two acres of those 11 acres… this means that there is lots of open, green space — you know, the part of the earth that produces oxygen and allows non-human life…to thrive.

Ragland says that boomers are looking for some specific features in their cohousing communities: WiFi, efficient systems including good process, and an adult- and child- firendly environment.

The article does touch on senior cohousing as well.

Read the article about cohousing for boomers

Comments

Featured Blogs

Keep the conversation going with these pieces

Codicts Team
Wed Feb 2008
  • New to community
Coworking has hit the mainstream with an article in the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. From the Chronicle: In co-working, a group of freelancers or other solo entrepreneurs share one big office space with perks that they might not get at home, such as conference rooms, espresso mac…
Codicts Team
Mon Feb 2010
  • New to community
  • Life Transitions
Thanks for responses to the recent post about Transition Towns in Australia. This is also a thriving movement in the United States, and we wanted to share this link for those further interested: http://www.transitionus.org/welcome-transition-us
Codicts Team
Mon Oct 2016
  • Economics & Law
Many of us are familiar with the farm-to-table movement: we might shop at our neighborhood farmers market, or even subscribe to a CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) model as a way to support local farms. But what about other products, like seafood? Can we find ways to eat fish locally and sustain…
Codicts Team
Fri Dec 2012
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
Questioning her community’s philosophy and practices, a live-in caregiver ends her involvement there in order to focus on greater self-expression and self-care.
Codicts Team
Sat Oct 2015
  • New to community
  • Economics & Law
Community Bookstore feature Local Money by Kim Kanney, Community Bookstore Manager Local Money What difference does it make? by John Rogers Digital Edition $10 Local currencies ― sometimes referred to as “local money” or “community currencies” ― allow cities, towns and intentional com…
Sky Blue
Sun Feb 2019
  • New to community
  • Economics & Law
Headquartered on a community farm, a nonprofit, people-of-color-led organization works to dismantle racism in the food system by increasing farmland stewardship by people of color, promoting equity in food access, and training the next generation of activist farmers.
Codicts Team
Thu Sep 2016
  • Living in community
  • Governance
For over 20 years, a small community in Kenya has been embarking on a rare experiment: a community without men, where women are the homeowners and breadwinners. Around 50 women and 200 children live in Umoja, a small village several hundred miles north of Nairobi, in the dry grasslands of the Sambur…
Codicts Team
Tue Jun 2016
  • New to community
Communities Movement Across The Continent FIC News Highlights Are you feeling the Summer buzz yet? We are! Here are highlights from some of our recent adventures. Old Friends Lost Valley Education Center, outside of Eugene OR, hosted the FIC’s biennial Organizational Meetings in May. …
Kim Kanney
Thu May 2019
Now in our 182nd issue of Communities magazine, we have discounted all back issues to $4 from Summer 2017 (#175) and older! In publication since 1972, there is so much to explore. View all back issues at the main page or view by decade: 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, and 2010’s. We’ve made…
Codicts Team
Thu Nov 2018
  • Living in community
  • Relationships
A day’s interactions in a rural intentional community in central Virginia show that it is much more than a “hippie subdivision.”

Insights & Stories from the Communities Movement

Subscribe to our newsletter for fresh stories and community updates delivered to your inbox.

Join the Communiversity Community

Get unlimited access to courses, exclusive member events, and a supportive network of community builders

Unlimited Learning

Access all courses, books, and premium content

Community Network

Member-only workshops and community builders

Exclusive Events

Member-only workshops and gatherings

Information

Communities

A residential project: people live here as their primary home.

Organizations

An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).

Plus Community Memberhsip

  • Find people with Profile Match
  • Access to your community listing statistics
  • Create Discussion Groups
  • 50% commission when your members purchase a Plus Membership
  • Access to our affiliate program
  • Member badge on your community profile
I am an official member of this community
Disclaimer
I affirm that my information is accurate and I am authorized to manage this listing
Foundation for Intentional Community FIC Member badge logo.

Free Plan

Free Membership
Free

Intentional Advertising

  • Subtotal

    {{ currencyFormat( pricing_summary.total_amount ) }}

Icon representing community connections and collaboration for intentional communities.

Plus Membership

We’re introducing new Plus features — including community reviews, Profile Match, and unlimited Needs & Offers posts — while keeping most of FIC free for everyone. Membership costs less than two coffees a month. 

  • Find communities with Profile Match
  • View detailed reviews about communities
  • Direct message and view contact information
  • Create free listings in Needs & Offers
  • Plus Member resources in CommUniversity
  • Plus Member badge on your profile