Retrofit Cohousing
The list of retrofit cohousing communities is being updated in March 2015
in preparation for a workshop at the National Cohousing Conference
to be held in North Carolina the end of May 2015.
If you know of communities not listed, details missing or needing corrections
please send them to Fred Olson fholson [at] cohousing.org
See the list as of 3/25/14 at:
(the former much older content of this page is at the end of this page)
Retrofit Cohousing is developed in existing housing by changing
the way the occupants of that housing relate - usually with new occupants
moving in to participate in the community. Retrofiting the social relations
and not necessarily the structures.
One description of Retrofit cohousing
Retrofit Cohousing: How to begin by Kevin Wolf of N Street
May 2001 SF Gate articles from Carol Lloyd's column
Note, Oct 2007. The links below have been around for a while. There are other retrofit
cohousing community organizing efforts not listed here.
To find others search for "Retrofitting" in the Coho/US cohousing community index .
If you know of others not listed there, please encourage them to enter themselves there.
Note that not all communities that I would describe as "retrofit cohousing" use that term
or have that status in the directory. The stages of development of retrofit cohousing are
much less well defined than for new construction cohousing.
Are retrofit cohousing communites ever "completed"?
Established Retrofit Cohousing Communities :
N Street Cohousing Davis California
On Going Concerns Portland Oregon
San Mateo Cooperative Community San Francisco Bay area, California
Temescal Creek Cohousing Oakland California
Temescal Creek article Jan '05 See also the Cohousing Consultants web site for more about Temescal Creek
Something like Retrofit Cohousing:
Homewood Cohousing Minneapolis Minnesota
Terra Firma Drummond Cohousing Ottawa Ontario, Canada
5-plex at Halcyon Commons Berkeley California
Kailash Ecovillage Portland Oregon
Communities listed as "retrofitting" in http://directory.cohousing.org/">Cohousing directory December 2013
(Go there and search the page for "retrofitting". )
Note that not all communities using the retrofit approach are listed this way - Temescal Creek for example.
# units # acres
Kingfisher on Brookdale CA Oakland 10 1
Los Angeles Eco-Village CA Los Angeles 48 1
N Street Cohousing CA Davis 18 3
New Brighton Cohousing CA Aptos 11 1
San Francisco Backyard ... CA San Francisco
San Mateo Ecovillage CA San Mateo 8 1
Triple Point Cohousing CA Oakland 6 1
Mayfair village of Denver CO Denver 19 1
Green Acres Nbhd Ecovillage IN Bloomington 3
Genesee Gardens Cohousing MI Lansing 11
Homewood Cohousing MN Minneapolis
Cohousing Consultants who specialize in retrofit cohousing in the
East Bay area of California
Discussion of retrofit cohousing on the Cohousing-L mailing list
can be found by searching the 20,000+ archived messages.
In December 2013 there was discussion on Cohousing-L about adopting a new, better term for retrofit cohousing.
Maybe Neighborhood cohousing.
One set historical roots for residential community building / cohousing
by Polly Allen / Neighborhood Housing Partnership:
_Building Domestic Liberty_
This page is maintained by Fred H. Olson fholson at cohousing.org
Retrofit Cohousing (This page)
The Cohousing Association of the United States (Coho/US)