Community housing with outdoor garden and seating area.

Bay State Cohousing

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Established
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2013

What we do

UPDATE JULY 2026: there is currently one 2-bedroom home available at Bay State Cohousing! To learn more, please reach out to us at: ba*************@***il.com.
Bay State Cohousing is a multigenerational community in Malden, Massachusetts, an inner suburb of Boston. We are located at 368 Pleasant Street, a short walk from the Malden Center subway station (20 minutes to downtown Boston), schools, groceries, restaurants, and public parks. The Northern Strand Community Trail and Bike to the Sea pass nearby, and the Middlesex Fells (a 2,200-acre state park) is one mile away.
Working with our architects and consultants, we developed an energy-efficient 30-unit building for the site. Our community has 5,000 sq ft of shared common space, including kitchen, dining room, living room, meeting rooms, kids’ space, exercise room, art room, and soundproofed music room. The property also has a patio and yard for gathering and gardening, shared decks on the upper floors, and underground parking.
Our new home has an award-winning, environmentally friendly design that reflects our commitment to sustainability and emphasizes beauty in both architecture and landscape. We value a balance between the private and the shared, with individually owned homes complemented by extensive common facilities and shared green space.
Our community spans four generations, including families, couples, and single people, with a wide variety of backgrounds and interests. During the development process — through thick, thin, and Covid — we evolved into a real community, growing in our capacity to support each other and keep us all growing. And finally in late 2022, after nearly a decade of planning and development, we moved in and began living in community!
If you’d like to learn more about us, please email us at baystatewebsite [at] gmail [dot] com.

Our Mission

Traditional Cohousing

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

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2013
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2022
  • Started living together
  • 42 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
47

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Look for periodic tours (listed on Meetup and Facebook), or contact us directly through our website.

Primary decision-making authority

  • Small Leadership Group

A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.

Decision-making process

  • Modified Consensus

Generally seek agreement, but have backup methods when consensus isn’t reached.

Governance structure

  • Collaborative/Horizontal

Power and responsibility are shared relatively equally among members.

Economic model

  • Independent Finances

Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.

Economic scenarios for this community

  • 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

Regular fees: Yes
Labor: Encouraged or suggested

Community activities and engagement

  • Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association

Age demographics

  • Family-focused (many children and parents)

Property status

  • Privately owned

Property owner

  • By a Land Trust, Home Owners Association, or corporation

Setting

  • Urban

Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.

Community type

  • Cohousing

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

  • Land area size
    0.8 acres

Guest Book

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Location

  • Massachusetts, United States

Needs and Offers

Offer
  • Communities with Openings
7 months ago

Worktrade Opportunities on Big Island Hawaii

We are continuing our work-trade program at Bridge Hawaii for the right people on this beautiful 86-acre land located along the Hāmākua Coast. Ideally, we want to host those individuals who can help with the garden and who can support with build projects for up to a 3 month stay. This work-trade would include lodging, food staples, community kitchen, running hot water showers, off-grid electricity, and laundry. There is access to high speed wi-fi. We often have a car that can be reserved. We also have full bar signal strength with Verizon cellphone service. We have about 2 acres of permaculture garden that needs to be cared for including; weeding, planting, picking up mulch, some tree trimming, ect. We are currently in a building stage on the land. We have a few current grant projects we are working on and some build projects that are underway. We are an intentional community with about 8 permanent residents. There are rescue dairy cows, mini cows, mini donkeys, horses, a donkey, cats, dogs, and active bee hives. We are a drug and alcohol “free” space. A glass of wine or beer with dinner is fine, but absolutely no day drinking or parties. We have a meditation temple and many waterfall pools that are wonderful for swimming. Close to some of the nicest beaches on island. We have snorkeling gear and a kayak. Since this is an animal sanctuary, we limit the consumption of meat on the land. Fish, eggs, honey, and dairy are fine. Let me know if you’re interested by sending an email or text for our application. Maomi (801) 623-0738 ma***@*****************ii.com

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).

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