Prairie Hill Cohousing, the first cohousing community in Iowa, welcomed its first four households in March 2018. By the first anniversary in 2019, more than half the 37 homes had been sold and the Common House had been completed. As of June 2023, all of our homes have been sold and moved into.
Prairie Hill Cohousing is a multigenerational Ecovillage on a nearly 8-acre infill site in a cosmopolitan city of 70,000. We are located on a bus line and near biking and walking trails about a mile from the University of Iowa and downtown Iowa City. Prairie Hill is adjacent to a small city park and near another large multifaceted city park. There are numerous restaurants and businesses to meet most of a person’s everyday needs within walking or biking distance of Prairie Hill.
Over four acres of our site is being used for gardens, prairie, orchard, and open space. We have been awarded state grants to support sustainable stormwater management practices on our site. As we continue to develop the open space and the land around our homes, we are following permaculture principles.
Committed to being a diverse, inclusive community, we are especially interested in attracting families with children. Current members range in age from 8 to 80. We include current and retired teachers, librarians, professors, a mediator, engineers, social workers, a landscape designer, a massage therapist, an editor, writers, a professional genealogist, and specialists in affordable housing.
Homes range from studio apartments in our Common House to two-story, two- or three-bedroom duplexes. Other homes are configured as four-plexes, single-story townhouses, and one-story duplexes. Our smallest homes are 515 square feet and the largest are 1,290 square feet. All homes are super-insulated and built to meet Energy Star and LEED certification standards. Many have installed solar panels on their roofs.
Iowa City ranks high in many national ratings of desirable communities, including 4th best place to live in America, according to the 2019 livability.org index. It has top-ranked public schools, a major research university and world-class university teaching hospital, a thriving arts and entertainment culture, free summer festivals, and Big Ten sports. It was the first UNESCO City of Literature in the country, home to the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop and excellent independent bookstores. Iowa City and the University of Iowa have silver ratings as a bicycle-friendly community and university, respectively according to the League of American Bicyclists. The city was the site for the first event in the 2019 World Cyclo-Cross World Cup series of international races.
Prairie Hill Cohousing is committed to these values: Multigenerational membership, social and economic diversity, community and privacy, green buildings with small carbon footprints, sustainability, shared resources, with an emphasis on alternative transportation and ecological land use.
Those buying a resale unit automatically become members. They meet with the Community Life Circle, orienting them to the values and expectations of membership. New members sign a Statement of Understanding, confirming their role in the community.
Contact us by email. Two guest rooms available.
A few people (not elected by the broader community) make the major decisions.
Decisions proceed unless someone has a reasoned objection.
Organized in circles or domains with distributed authority.
Responsibility for various aspects of community life is provided by semi-autonomous sociocracy circles.
Members maintain separate personal finances with minimal sharing.
Regular fees: $214
Labor: Encouraged or suggested
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Common House, Garden(s), Library, Workshop, Large Scale Kitchen, Fire pit, Internet
Within city limits with access to urban amenities and infrastructure.
Private homes with shared common facilities, designed for neighborly
interaction while maintaining independence.
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
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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