Village Hill Cohousing sign on a large rock with trees in background.

Village Hill Cohousing

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Suburban

Founding year

  • 2014

What we do

Village Hill Cohousing (VHC) is an inclusive, multi-generational community with 28 homes located one mile from the vibrant downtown area of Northampton, Massachusetts, next to Smith College, and adjacent to wooded conservation land.
Camaraderie, personal growth, mutual support, shared work and governance, and ecologically sustainable practices – together with personal privacy – are among the major benefits Village Hill Cohousing offers.
For those seeking social interactions, co-housing can offer an antidote to isolation. For those who are more private, our individual units, many with self-contained porches, provide the perfect refuge from the demands of a busy world.
Walking and bike paths, coupled with nearby bus routes, make VHC the perfect location for families and individuals who want to live lightly on the land in a forward-thinking larger community.
About Village Hill Cohousing: The entire infrastructure of the Village Hill Cohousing site is energy-efficient construction, balancing a greatly reduced ecological impact with sustainability and livability.
CORE VALUES
We believe that…
Living in community is a healthy antidote to loneliness and isolation.
Social interactions with neighbors engender understanding, encourage growth, and create greater tolerance and respect for “the other.”
A diverse, multi-generational community is a healthy community.Energy-efficiency, whether it be in our private homes or in common areas, is a win/win for everyone.Green spaces, like our vegetable and flower gardens and our access to trails through the adjacent conservation land, are not only good for the environment, but good for the soul too.
FEATURES OF VHC
Twenty eight stand-alone and/or semi-attached units of varying sizes and prices • A short walk or bike ride to downtown Northampton • Close to restaurants, entertainment, arts, music, education (hub of the “Five-College” area) • Close to bike rail trails, hiking, snowshoe and cross-country ski trails, waterways, and many rich opportunities for outdoor activities • Local bus line stop and rail trail spur are in the neighborhood • Bus and Amtrak service to major cities; 45-minute drive to Bradley International Airport • Centrally located in New England: about 4.0 hours to New York City, less than 2 hours to Boston.
ABOUT NORTHAMPTON
A city of 30,000 people, Northampton is a unique and special blend of urban and rural, historic and contemporary, intellectual, artsy, athletic, and entrepreneurial energy. The Pioneer Valley hosts five colleges and universities.
For more information, visit: http://villagehillcohousing.org http://www.northampton-k12.us http://www.explorenorthampton.com http://www.visitnorthampton.net http://www.northamptonma.gov
If our shared values of compassionate living, sustainability, community and connection resonate with you, we look forward to speaking with you.

Our Mission

VILLAGE HILL COHOUSING is a diverse, multi-generational community that values respect and generosity towards one another and the wider community in which we live. We also have a particular reverence for the land within our six-acre campus and in the beautiful surrounding areas. Members welcome a diversity of cultural and religious backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientation, gender expression and socioeconomic status.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing
  • Activities
  • Property management

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2014
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2019
  • Started living together

Gallery

  • 45 Total members
  • Not open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
54

How to join

Living in an intentional community offers great benefits, but also requires serious commitment and a willingness to meet specific expectations around work, governance, and participation. It isn’t necessarily for everyone. To help you figure out if VHC may be a good fit for you, we offer a checklist of actions below you can take to get to know us, as well as areas or issues worth exploring more carefully.
When a home at VHC becomes available, purchasing priority will be given to current members and people in the Interest Pool. To ensure that prospective buyers are both informed and committed, here are the steps you need to become a part of the Interest Pool:
1, Read the Information Packet. 2. Write a Statement of Interest (with separate ones for every adult member of the prospective household). Send the statement to in**@******************ng.org 3. Attend at least one monthly Full Circle meeting. 4. Talk to one member of Outreach and at least five members of the community. After submitting your Statement of Interest we will send you information about members to contact. 5. Indicate your willingness to sign VHC Member Agreement.
To arrange a visit and get the process of joining the Interest Pool underway, please contact ou******@******************ng.org or go to https://www.villagehillcohousing.org/village-hill-cohousing/joining/ for more information.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Please email us at : in**@******************ng.org

Primary decision-making authority

  • All Community Members Together

The whole membership decides collectively.

Decision-making process

  • Consent-Based (Sociocracy)

Decisions proceed unless someone has a reasoned objection.

Governance structure

  • Sociocratic/Circle-Based

Organized in circles or domains with distributed authority.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • Members need to pay fees, dues, or similar to live there on a per month or per year basis
  • There is a labor obligation
  • Members typically need to have their own job or other personal source of income to cover their expenses while living in the community?

Additional economic information

Join fee: Yes
Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Yes
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
• Required labor contribution: Yes. Adults who are physically able are expected to work 10 hours per month

Shared resources and amenities that are accessible to everyone in the community

Common House, Garden(s), Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Swingsets & play areas, Gym or sports area

Frequency of communal meals

  • About once a week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary restriction

  • People can cook and eat what they want in their own residence

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure
  • Substance use is prohibited in the community

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By several individuals through an LLC or a Tenancy In Common agreement

Setting

  • Suburban

Residential areas outside city centers but within metropolitan regions.

Community type

  • Cohousing

    Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
    interaction while maintaining independence.

Self-produced energy

  • 33 - 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Over 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    6 acres

Guest Book

Written reviews are available for plus members. Click here to upgrade.

Location

  • Massachusetts, United States

Village Hill Cohousing

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
4 days ago

Beautiful 3+ Bed, 2.5 Bath Townhome in Established West Emerald CoHousing, Seattle

A rare home is available at West Emerald Cohousing, an established all-ages intentional community in West Seattle. For those considering a move to the Pacific Northwest—or hoping to join a mature community rather than one still in the forming stages—West Emerald offers decades of community life, beautiful gardens, shared resources and a peaceful setting within the city in a convenient location since 1999. This unit has a unique floor plan that is ideal for co-buying, co-living, or for one household. The home itself offers a flexible 3+ bedroom, 2.5 bath layout: Garden-level room with a separate exterior entrance and half bath—ideal for a home office, studio, guest space or client-facing business Main-level bedroom and full bath, laundry, making one-level living possible Open great room with large windows overlooking gardens filled with birdsong Well-designed kitchen with generous storage and pantry Two additional light-filled spacious bedrooms and a full bath upstairs Thoughtfully maintained and updated Located at the end of a common pathway for added privacy and garden views, Just feet from parking, which is out of view West Emerald community amenities include: Common House with gathering and activity spaces Community meals and events Mature gardens and shared outdoor spaces Workshop/maker spaces and bike barn Exercise room EV charging opportunity Excellent Metro access to Downtown Seattle just minutes away Nestled into a dell, it’s Seattle’s best-kept secret South Seattle College and lifelong learning, NW Wine Academy, the Seattle Chinese Garden are nearby, with easy access to Alki Beach, Lincoln Park, magnet schools, ferries, and the shops and restaurants of the West Seattle Junction. 6000 17th Ave SW, Seattle, WA Is a wonderful opportunity to have your own comfortable, private home while becoming part of a vibrant and well-established Seattle all-ages cohousing community. For more information contact the friendly Realtor at 206-579-9066, or at ki**********@**********te.com who will be happy to meet you there or do a facetime tour.
Offer
Need
  • Communities with Openings
5 days ago

Looking for Founding Members to Join us

We are looking for someone who lives in Oregon or would like to live in Oregon who wants to help us clean up our new far, property and start building some off grid housing, compost toilets, fireplaces for cooking and building the farm out. We have about 10 acres and several barns, power on site for small wall tents for campers, solar panels we can setup and sooo soo much more to do.  Ideally this person would be around our age, late 20’s -early 30’s, family friendly as we have a daughter and family out sometimes. We are not looking for “anarchist” who see the glass half full and wants to ‘burn down the system’ as we farm and sell to the public, we rely on the system to pay our bills… that is really the only caveat. No hard drugs and no hard political opinions as we prefer to focus on our back-to-the-land culture, not the problem we cannot control outside the farm.  You tired of the noise and want some solitude? To get your hands dirty and build a farm from the ground up with a bunch of like minded people. All I want to do is feed people and have fun while we do it. I don’t want to try and fix the world, just rebuild the one directly around us into an oasis that we can enjoy each and everyday while keeping our moral compass pointing north. Some things to know – We do smoke pot. We like electronic and bass music sometimes and organize festivals and renegades, we still like to have fun, but when on farm, you would never know. We are super easy to be around and just want some friends who can enjoy this farm opportunity and make the most of it with us.  Kids are OK! Pets on a per person basis. Rent is negotiable ($100-300/month) with work trade being mandatory at 4 hours per week. Anything beyond that goes towards rent. Please reach out if interested or have any questions.    Kindest Regards, DJ & Reagan 
Need
Offer
  • Professional Services
2 days ago

Community Planning, Facilitation & Coaching for Intentional Communities

Through Radicle Collective, I support intentional communities and the people within them as they navigate the practical and relational work of building life together. My work can include visioning and community planning, facilitated conversations and retreats, decision-making and governance design, conflict transformation, establishing group agreements, culture-building, and individual or group coaching. I work with communities at many stages – whether it’s a few people exploring whether to live together, a fledgling community developing its foundations, or an established community in transition or conflict. I draw from training in psychology, coaching, urban and regional planning, facilitation, Nonviolent Communication, permaculture, and related practices to approach community as a living system – one shaped by individual needs, relationships, shared structures, place, and the connections between them. Rather than bringing a single model for how community should work, I help groups understand what is happening across those different layers, surface what matters, work honestly with difference, and create structures and practices that support connection, agency, belonging, and the values that brought them together in the first place. I’m based in Berlin and available to work online or in person, depending on location and scope. I offer sliding-scale pricing and am open to creative forms of exchange where appropriate. If your community is forming, stuck, changing, or simply wants some skilled outside support for an important conversation, I’d be glad to explore what might be useful. You can learn more about my work and get in touch at radiclecollective.com.
Offer
Need

Update to a Public Profile

  • Log in
  • Go to your profile page
  • Toggle on the "Add my profile to the directory"
  • Save your profile

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 Membership

  • Find people with Profile Match
  • Access to your community listing statistics
  • Create Discussion Groups
  • 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
  • Create free listings in Needs & Offers
  • Plus Member resources in CommUniversity
  • View communities detailed reviews
  • Plus Member badge on your profile