Colorful community housing with lush greenery and walking paths.

Spokane Cohousing

  • Communities

About the Communities

  • Forming
  • Home-sharing
  • Urban

Founding year

  • 2017

What we do

Haystack Heights Cohousing formed around the opportunity to develop a beautiful three-acre property in the sought-after South Perry neighborhood of Spokane, Washington. The site is within walking distance of the neighborhood business district, a great grade school, bike trails, and parks. It is also on a bus line. Over the past 30 years the previous property owners restored the historic home existing on the property, and they also cultivated a large organic garden and orchard that we plan to preserve and expand.
We are creating an intergenerational village close to downtown Spokane. Shared community features, in addition to the common house and garden, will include a meditation hut, a greenhouse, a sauna, a hot tub, and a workshop, above which will sit a music room and teen hangout space. We will have clustered townhouses and flats to maximize efficiency, interaction, and green space. We plan to share skills and facilities where it makes sense, balanced with respectful privacy and independence where it is needed and desired. We strive for a decision-making and group process that is inclusive, as simple as possible, and flexible.
Please contact us if you have any questions! We are happy to provide site tours, and we go above and beyond to connect out-of-towners with this amazing space!

Our Mission

Our mission is to create the first cohousing community in Eastern Washington! Where community makes sustainability fulfilling and fun.

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

Commemorative dates

  • January 1, 2017
  • Started planning
  • January 1, 2021
  • Started living together
  • 42 Total members
  • Open to new members
  • Open to visitors
Total
49

How to join

We are a forming cohousing community that offers monthly presentations (see our Facebook page) and regular site tours. We encourage people interested in becoming a member to attend those events to meet our members and learn about the project. If interested in applying there is a $150 associate member fee to reserve your place in line for unit selection. You then have a couple months to do a membership orientation, review all our documents, and attend our business meetings before deciding whether this community is a good fit for you. Once you apply as a full member your application is reviewed and approved by our members. You can learn more here: http://www.spokanecohousing.com/uploads/1/0/5/7/105704601/steps_to_reserve_a_home.docx

Basic expectations or agreements for members

Please email us at sp***************@***il.com to schedule a visit if you are coming from out of town. If you live in Spokane and are interested in the project sign up for our email list and a site tour on our website at: www.spokanecohousing.com

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

  • There is a one-time fee, investment, or share purchase to join the community separate from accessing housing
  • 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: $500
Labor: Encouraged or suggested
Members with pre-existing debt: allowed
Our community is in the development process, members pay for the pre-construction costs of building the neighborhood and the cost is applied to the downpayment of your unit. All units are individually owned and include a share of the common facilities. The legal structure will likely be a condo association structure and there will be a homeowner association fee. The amounts will be determined during the design phase and when you join the group.

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

Common House, Garden(s), Greenhouse(s), Outbuilding(s), Hot tub or hot springs, Large Scale Kitchen, Swingsets & play areas, Internet

Frequency of communal meals

  • 2-5 times per week

Significant food acquisition practices

  • Locally sourced

Dietary type

  • Vegetarian Only

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

Gender composition

  • Roughly balanced (no group over 60%)

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.

Self-produced energy

  • 33 - 66%

Energy sources used

  • Photovoltaic Solar

Self-produced food

  • Up to 33%

Local, organic, or fair trade food

  • 33 - 66%

Food systems

  • Community garden
  • Greenhouse / aquaponics
  • Land area size
    3 acres

Guest Book

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Location

  • Washington, United States

Spokane Cohousing

Needs and Offers

Connecting people and communities through an intentional online marketplace

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.
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.
Offer
Need

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