In a few weeks, Oakland is hosting the National Cohousing Conference, June 13-17, at the Marriott Oakland City Center, 1001 Broadway.
What is Cohousing? Cohousing is a Danish model of community living, where all families/individuals own their own unit, but also share a "common house" where the community spends time together. I live at Doyle St. Cohousing, on Doyle St. in Emeryville. We are celebrating our 20 years since the project was completed this spring. We have 12 separate units, with a condominium structure. We have meals in our common house, cooked by one of the adults in the community, three times per week. Over dinner, neighbors chat, share news, discuss their day, issues in Emeryville, etc. Those of us with kids find that neighbors are open to watching a child for a few hours here or there, and the kids have built in friends and playdates that don't require driving across town. I learn a lot from my neighbors, borrow things, watch movies together... just like a "village" of sorts.
Once a year a conference brings people interested in this intentional community type together. Emeryville should be proud as our community is often featured in articles and books about cohousing, as we were one of the first places in the county with a cohousing community built from the ground up (or in our case, converted from a warehouse).
When we talk about having more family friendly housing in Emeryville, I think that including another cohousing community makes a lot of sense. I think about all the units promised in the Public Market development, or future affordable housing developments, and think that cohousing would be a great addition.
I have to say that Doyle St. Cohousing is the reason my family and I moved to Emeryville in 2004 from Oakland. The support that we get from our community is the reason that I can serve Emeryville on the council and as mayor. After living this way, going back to a single family home or a multi-family unit without the added structure of community would be hard for me. I will have the opportunity to share my appreciation for the role cohousing plays in my life at the National Conference as I introduce one of the leaders of the cohousing world, author of the book, and developer extraordinaire, Katie McCamant. It just so happens that Katie and her husband Chuck Durrett used to live in Emeryville. In fact, I bought my unit from them!
Please email me if you want more info, or go to the website for the conference and sign up to attend.
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