The National Cohousing Conference has inspired us!

Cohousing is a growing international movement. This fact was obvious

at the 2019 National Cohousing Conference that Sharon and I attended in Portland May 30-June 2. 560 people from 35 states and 11 countries heard inspiring plenary talks on how cohousing is the antidote to social isolation and loneliness, and how through cohousing people are redefining the American dream.

Conference attendees expressed their cohousing dreams on this poster board.

They toured five local cohousing communities to see the variety of ways in which cohousing manifests. In 80 practical breakout sessions they learned how to design the common house and the community site to bring people together, how to make decisions that are acceptable to everyone, how to make cohousing affordable to people with low incomes, how to market your community to attract residents who will engage in the process, and how to work most effectively with cohousing professionals.

We played with blocks in a session on site design.

Dominant themes were affordability, marketing, and the process of developing communities.

Surprises were the finding that many cohousers are introverts, that only one in forty people interested in cohousing actually joins a community, that 5% of the project budget should be spent on marketing, and that half of those involved in the development process leave when the site is selected.

At the same time, with nearly 300,000 residents in the Tri-Cities, we only need one from every 10,000 to get the thirty cohousers we need for a viable community here. We just need to get the word out and nurture our little community.

We returned to the Tri-Cities highly motivated to expand our effort to build BalsamRoot Commons, with your help of course!

Check out the schedule to see the wide variety of fascinating sessions.