Cohousing Helping Residents to Get Through Pandemic

Courtesy PLACEMATTERS (CC BY 2.0)

Charles Durrett, co-author of the book State-of-the-Art Cohousing: Lessons Learned from Quimper Village along with Alexandria Levitt, writes about the benefits cohousing communities are providing for residents living in unprecedented times.

Cohousing is a planned, collaborative housing community consisting of private homes, typically clustered around shared common spaces. While cohousing living is a lifestyle anyone can choose, it is especially beneficial for seniors or others who want to live in private homes without losing the sense of a tight-knit community.

Residents at the cohousing complex Durrett interviewed in Port Townsend, Washington showed how the benefits of cohousing are especially helpful during a global pandemic, when people are advised to stay home and go out only for necessities such as groceries. Cohousing complexes often host social activities for residents, but with new social distancing regulations in place, people are finding ways to improvise.

“We do not feel like we are socially isolated” said a resident of Mountain View Senior Cohousing. “At Durrett’s community like most others, folks are picking up prescriptions, groceries, and more for folks who should not venture out, as well as social activities at a distance.”

Staying home is an important way for us all to help combat the virus, but it’s important to keep in touch with our local communities too! For the full article, see here at the Civil + Structural Engineer Magazine.