Modern cohousing building at sunset with trees and street view.

Washington Commons Cohousing

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Forming
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2016

What we do

Welcoming new members! Join us in creating an urban cohousing community in the city of West Sacramento — voted the “Most Livable City in America, under 100,000 population” by the US Council of Mayors.
We have our permit and are under construction! We are building an energy efficient, 4-story, 35-condo cohousing project with an expected December 2023 move-in. A few one, two, and two-plus bedroom, fully equipped condos are still available to reserve. Floor plans available following site and Zoom information tours. Our design includes on-site parking, a native-plant garden, a bike/dog-washing area, and a spacious second level terrace. Residents share 5,800 sq ft of interior community space, including a large dining room with kitchen, guest rooms, craft and exercise rooms, coffee/wine nooks, and more.
Our property is part of a bikeable, walkable historic residential neighborhood two blocks from the Sacramento River (where one can birdwatch, boat, or explore the Riverwalk). We’re just minutes from Old Sacramento, the Golden 1 Center NBA arena, River Cats AAA baseball, museums, restaurants, pubs, shopping, Sacramento Amtrak (11 trains daily to the Bay Area), and 20 minutes from the Sacramento International Airport.
JOIN our diverse community of single/married and working/retired households. Help create your future neighborhood. Explorer status available for $100. Visit our website at washington-commons.org and follow us on Facebook. Want to talk to a real person? Call our outreach coordinator, Shelly Parks, at 425-308-0639.

Our Mission

For people who value relationships, diversity, self-governance, and quality of life.

  • Purpose
  • Home-sharing
  • Community type
  • Cohousing

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2016
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2024
  • Started living together
  • 41 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
41

How to join

We are actively recruiting new members. Explorer status is required before becoming a member. We are holding site visits and other events, including online info events. Please visit our website for the latest events and sign up for our email newsletter and event notification. We also encourage you to follow our Facebook page.

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Visit our website: htpp//www.Washington-Commons.org for contact information.

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.

Conflict resolution approach

We are committed to being a collaborative, consensus building community.

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
  • 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
We encourage interested persons to become Explorers– $100 for a 3-month period. The membership fee is $2,000 –minus the $100 Explorer fee.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Vehicle Share, Library, Workshop, Large Scale Kitchen, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Substance use culture

  • Substance use appears in public spaces but no pressure

Age demographics

  • Mixed adults (few or no children)

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.

Self-produced energy

  • Up to 33%

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • Up to 33%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Land area size
    0.56 acres

Guest Book

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

Location

  • California, United States

Washington Commons Cohousing

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

  • Promoted
Offer
  • Real Estate For Sale
4 weeks ago

Unit C-2, Woodard Lane Cohousing — Olympia, WA

Join Olympia’s first and longest-running cohousing community, in a quiet West Side neighborhood 1.6 miles from downtown, backing onto a forested ravine along Schneider Creek. Unit C-2 offers 1,904 SF. Two stories, 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, and a bonus loft room on the main level. It can be lived in as one spacious family home — or split into two independent living spaces, each with its own kitchen, entrance, and effective soundproofing. Great for multigenerational households, live/work arrangements, or an owner-occupied half with a rented or shared half. Upper level: bedroom, full bath, bonus room with built-in loft bed, and an open kitchen-dining-living area with a deck facing the forest. Lower level: 3 bedrooms, full bath with dual sinks, second full kitchen, laundry room, and a second patio. Features: 2 full kitchens, radiant floor heat, stained concrete floors (bamboo upstairs), double-pane windows, bolted keyed entries at both levels, dedicated laundry, concrete patios facing the ravine, shared parking with 18 EV charging stations.   Ownership includes a Common House with a guest room, full kitchen, gathering space, and kids’ play area; a shared vegetable garden; a wood shop and bike storage; and wooded grounds with a stream path and central Green. Monthly dues are $799, covering all utilities except internet. Established in 2010, Woodard Lane is home to ~40 residents across 18 homes, with shared meals, work parties, and genuine neighborliness. Learn more about Woodard Lane Cohousing  We’re looking for a buyer who wants to participate fully in community life. $630,000. Contact Kate Greene: yo******@***il.com or text: 360-789-7587.
Need
  • Forming Communities
3 weeks ago

Looking for: people building relational capacity, with a view to community

What’s here now: An intention, a framework developed over five years, and a programme running in central Victoria to find people to build with. No land, no group, no timeline. The question this is organised around: What makes a community of people living together sustainable over decades – where people enjoy being there, conflict is low, and the conflict that does arise gets handled in ways people value. The distinctive premise is capacity before formation. Most communities form first and build relational skill afterwards, usually under pressure. This one proposes doing it the other way round: people build the capacities first, and the group forms from people who have them. That includes a working idea about collective capacity – that a group has a ratio, and below some threshold it can’t metabolise its own conflict and starts consuming itself. Roughly: in a group of twenty, perhaps three or four with high capacity, most in the middle, and very few without. Untested, and something this project exists to find out. Governance: Sociocracy, with the intention of testing it meaningfully at scale rather than adopting it nominally. What’s actually happening: A three-week residency at a property near Castlemaine, and a practice group running before it. The medium-term aim is twenty to forty people at a rented facility. The long-term aim is a support hub sharing the framework more widely. What I’m looking for: People who want to build this capacity seriously, and who might eventually want to build something together. Not necessarily people who want to live here – the current property probably isn’t the long-term site. Happy to hear from anyone this resonates with, including people already in community who’d rather share what they’ve learned than join anything.
Need

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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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