Want To Join Us?

We are a lively, active group of elders who have been meeting together since April, 2025 to plan the kind of cohousing community where we would like to live. We are looking for others to work with us as we create a place where we hope 20 to 30 households can live and thrive together in the beautiful Northwest.

What is Cohousing?

Here’s how Charles Durrett, an architect who has designed or consulted in the design of more than 50 cohousing communities in North America, puts it:

“Imagine a living arrangement in which multiple, individually owned housing units (20-30) are oriented around a common open area and a common house—a place where community is a way of life. Imagine residents who actively cooperate in planning a project with one goal in mind—to recreate an old-fashioned neighborhood that supports friendly cooperation, socialization and mutual support.”

That’s exactly the kind of community we at Elderberry Commons are working toward. We’d like a common house for shared meals, maybe a laundry room, a shop, an art studio. Outside we envision open space, a community garden, perimeter parking to make the central space car-free.

Whatever design we choose, it will be primarily a vehicle to promote interaction among community members.

Why Cohousing?

The core of cohousing is living in relationship. Being connected benefits everyone by cultivating a culture of sharing and caring. Also, by living in community, sharing resources and designing for lower energy use and greener living, we can reduce our impact on the environment.

But cohousing is not a commune. We will live in modest private homes with all the amenities we are used to, including kitchens. Our homes are designed to be in proximity to common spaces while also having spaces that are ours alone. Connecting with community is easy and natural, but not required or constant. Privacy matters too.

Why Cohousing for Elders?

The number of elders in the U.S. population is forecast to reach 20 percent by the year 2030, but many elders today live in places that don’t accommodate their most basic needs. In the typical American suburb, driving—which becomes increasingly difficult as one ages—is an absolute requirement for everything from doing business to participating in social activities. Maintaining a standard single-family home becomes harder too, especially when chronic diseases common to later age increase.

Staying in the family home can, for these reasons, lead to social isolation, and social isolation is detrimental to a fulfilling old age, as the prestigious medical journal The Lancet recently reported. Its Commission on Dementia’s third report even lists social isolation as a reversible risk factor for dementia.

In a cohousing community, however, residents are surrounded by a group of people they know and can interact with regularly and from whom they may receive neighborly assistance when it’s needed. It isn’t the level of care available in “assisted living,” but for many people it is enough. As Durrett has said, “I’m now a firm believer that 20 seniors stranded on a desert island would do better at taking care of most of their basic needs than the same 20 left isolated [in their single-family homes] or in an institution.”

We hope you can attend a future informational meeting

If you would like to learn more about Elderberry Commons, we have informational meetings in Seattle.

The meetings are an opportunity to learn about cohousing for seniors, meet some of the Elderberry Commons community members, and discover whether Elderberry Commons might be in your future! Bring your curiosity and questions. We’ll look forward to meeting you.

If you are interested, please let us know by filling in the Contact Us form below, so we can connect with you in this way, or another way… perhaps over a cup of coffee?

Contact Us

Interested in finding more about cohousing and the Elderberry Commons project? Fill out this form and we will be in touch shortly. We can’t wait to hear from you!