10+ Benefits of Cohousing and Co-Living: Learn More

In the United States and abroad, intentional communities might be the answer we're seeking to issues including aging, the high cost of living and loneliness.

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February 04, 2022

By: Kassondra Cloos

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Cohousing and Co-Living Communities are the Ultimate Solution for a Number of Social Problems

For some people, living alone is the dream. You have your own space, full control over when to do the dishes and when to avoid them, and you don’t have to abide by anyone else’s morning routine or late-night work schedule. For others, living alone is too expensive or just downright lonely. Enter cohousing and co-living communities, which studies have found can positively impact our mental health and quality of life. These concepts are currently gaining steam amid growing loneliness among millennials and older adults, and a greater demand for flexible, affordable living options.

In these spaces around the United States and abroad, you can live in homes built around community and be part of something much bigger than yourself, often with more amenities for less money than it costs to live by yourself.

The Difference Between Cohousing and Coliving

The modern concept of cohousing has its roots in Danish architecture in the 1960s, when groups of families in Denmark created housing communities together to help each other care for one another and raise children more collaboratively. Today, cohousing communities are becoming more popular throughout Europe and the United States. Each community is unique, and often they're custom- and purpose-built by their members. They typically consist of groups of standalone houses or fully sufficient, owned apartments with a common house and/or green space. Rather than being managed by an outside company, members make decisions for the community based on consensus.

Co-living is a bit newer and is a bit of a hybrid between a cohousing community and rental apartment buildings. In co-living buildings, you may have your own apartment or you may share with roommates, but you're likely to rent directly from a management company rather than co-signing a lease with friends or strangers. These companies typically offer all-inclusive rent prices for furnished units in buildings with shared co-working, living and cooking spaces. Units often come fully furnished and many are targeted toward young adults who want to move into a building with flexible leases and an existing social structure. They can work particularly well for people starting over in new cities where they don't already have a social support network.

Studies Show Cohousing can Improve Mental and Physical Health

People around the world have experienced a whole new level of isolation since the start of the pandemic, yet those who live in cohousing communities seem to have fared better, according to a study published in late 2020 by the journal Interpersona. The study's researchers analyzed people living in Germany during the lockdowns of 2020 and found that cohousing residents relied on each other more for social support than residents of traditional neighborhoods. They reported suffering from less depression and anxiety and even fewer eating disorders than others not living in cohousing communities.

Neighborliness is Built In to Cohousing Communities

Other studies have found positive impacts on mental health. A paper published by Public Health Reviews analyzed existing research on how cohousing impacts mental and physical health and quality of life, and found that eight out of 10 such studies found positive associations.

To put it simply, having good access to social support from your neighbors can positively impact your mental, emotional and physical health, and your overall quality of life. The shared access to tools and resources; someone to help watch your kids while you're working; or to bring you meals if you fall ill, are all benefits of cohousing. And living in a cohousing community often makes access to that social support easier and more explicitly available than in a traditional neighborhood.

Cohousing has Scandinavian Roots

Cohousing it still popular today in Scandinavia. Vindmøllebakken, shown here, was designed by Norwegian architecture firm Helen & Hard. The community was built in Stavanger, Norway, in 2019 and has privately owned units surrounding communal indoor and outdoor spaces. Visually, it’s stunning, but cohousing is far more functional than it is stylish, says Alan O’Hashi, director of the Cohousing Association of the United States. “Cohousing isn’t about the houses,” Alan says. “You drop what you’re doing to help people out when they’re in need.” He has lived in a cohousing community in Boulder, Colorado, for 12 years and says they were well-prepared to beat back the isolation of the pandemic. Residents make decisions for the community by consensus and hold potluck dinners twice a week. When cities started shutting down in March 2020, they kept up the tradition and just moved to Zoom or to outdoor meetups when the weather cooperated.

In a Cohousing Community, Neighbors Care for One Another Without Being Asked

The premise of cohousing is pretty simple: You’re not just buying a house when you join an owner-occupied cohousing community. You’re becoming part of a whole. When he got “deathbed sick” in 2013, Alan says, people just showed up at his house with covered dishes without him asking. No one waits around to be told how to help out when a community member is in need, he adds, and no one feels bad asking for help directly, or asking to borrow something, or asking for a hand with tasks. “We’re trying to undo the American way,” says Alan of the rugged individualism of American values that can also lead to a lot of alienation and isolation. The Cohousing Association lists hundreds of member communities across the US, so if you’re looking for more information about how to buy into one near you, this is a great place to start.

You Can Start Your Own Cohousing Community by Buying Plans From an Existing One

Cohousing communities are generally made up of fully sufficient, owner-occupied homes — often detached, just like a regular house — with shared resources like a community garden or common house with rooms for overnight guests and a full kitchen. Members usually make decisions together about their community rather than deferring to a management firm of some kind.

The Cottages on Vaughn, shown here, is a new community of tiny cottages under 500 square feet in Clarkston, Georgia. This “pocket neighborhood” doesn’t have a common house, but the owner-occupied homes share green spaces and are clustered close together to foster community. The Cottages on Vaughn is a project by the MicroLife Institute, and their building plans are available for purchase to help other cohousing communities get off the ground.

Tiny Housing Communities Make Owning a Home More Affordable

Building a new cohousing community on your own can be pretty tricky. Unless you’re a developer with a lot of financial resources and a keen understanding of practices in your area, it may be hard to find affordable land, get enough people on board, get everyone to agree on what the community will look like, and then get the necessary planning permissions and start building. Neil Hall-McLean and Leo De Watts are working to build an affordable cohousing community in the United Kingdom called NaviHo — a combination of “navigable” and “home” — which will feature individual, standalone tiny houses around common spaces and plenty of access to nature. One of their main goals is to make it easier for families and young professionals to own their own houses and to alleviate some of the stress and pressure of high-cost renting. “The notion of just having a roof over your head is actually seen as an investment in a commodity, where really it's something that I think should actually just be a right,” Leo says.

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In a Cohousing Community, Even the Tiniest Homes are Fully Self-Sufficient

Neil and Leo are working to secure land for the project and hope to eventually build many such communities. This prototype of the tiny house that will ultimately be used for the NaviHo community is occasionally available to rent via Airbnb on Neil’s property in Dorset, England. The model has a sleeping loft, separate reading loft, full kitchen — even a dishwasher — and bathroom, and plenty of natural light streaming in through the windows. Eventually, Neil and Leo plan for the NaviHo community to have a café, garden plots for people to grow their own food and shared workshops, among other communal features.

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Co-Living Communities are Ideal for Young Professionals

Co-living communities are a new commercial concept targeted at young professionals looking to rent in highly social communities, and they provide lower barriers to entry than owning housing. People can rent rooms, studios or whole apartments — some with roommates, some without — without sifting through Craigslist ads and often without needing references. The mental health benefits of being part of something bigger can ease isolation and loneliness, says Tim Chapman-Cavanaugh, director of Assael, a British architecture firm that’s currently working on building a new facility for co-living company The Collective. Shown here in an artist's rendering of a new space in Wandsworth, London, that will have about 315 units. "Especially now with people working more from home, they don't get that connectivity," he says. "I think more so now than before the pandemic, this is going to be a key issue."

The Co-Living Trend is Booming and Many New Facilities are Coming Soon

Now that it’s easier to work from home — or from wherever you choose to set up your laptop — flexible co-living spaces offer young professionals a way to set up a home in a new city with less of the hassle moving usually involves. Plus they come with quite a few built-in friends. “The goal is to try to bring people together,” Tim says.

Here, you can see a rendering for the cozy apartments Assael is planning for another forthcoming co-living community in London, Nineyards Kingston. In these spaces, there's emphasis on large, shared spaces over small private ones. For example, units may have their own bathroom and small food preparation area, but residents may do most of their cooking in massive, shared chef's kitchens, where 20 to 30 people can be cooking and eating meals at the same time. You'll always have your own space to retreat to when you want privacy, he says, and you'll also have access to tons of events and large communal spaces whenever you're feeling more social.

This model may also work well for older adults, Tim says, and Assael is working on some ideas for senior-focused co-living.

Co-Living Rentals Eliminate the Stress of Sharing a Lease With Strangers

Co-living communities offer an opportunity to access many of the same benefits as cohousing developments at more accessible price points and without the administrative work you usually need to do to find roommates. At Society Living, which currently operates in Florida and is building new spaces in other US states, you can sign an individual lease for a room in a shared unit. Depending on your budget, you may have a private or shared bathroom, and you’ll have access to shared spaces within your unit as well as within the building, such as coworking spaces, a pool and lounges. You won’t even need to supply the roommates.

Co-Living Rentals Can Make it Easier and Cheaper to Move to a New City

Common is a co-living company that furnishes homes in cities like San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, DC, and more. You don’t need to find your own roommates to move in to a fully furnished, shared apartment — and all the utilities, Wi-Fi and regular cleaning of shared spaces are included. While co-living models like these differ from cohousing developments where you own your own fully sufficient space, they offer opportunities for young professionals to access community living in a way that may alleviate some of the normal stresses of finding roommates on your own, not to mention you'll save money up front without needing to buy new furniture. Leases can be as short as just a few months, and you’ll set that directly with the company instead of needing to talk it out with your housemates and find a replacement for yourself if you want to move.

Co-Living Houses with Lots of Programming Can Make it Easier to Make Friends

Co-living options are available at a smaller scale, too, like Mason & Fifth's Italian Building. This co-living house in London’s trendy Bermondsey neighborhood has just 28 micro studios with ensuite bathrooms and their own tiny kitchens. The house also has a huge shared kitchen and plenty of community programming. The units are furnished, and rent is inclusive of laundry, cleaning, utilities and little extras like regular excursions around and out of the city, wellness programming, “family” meals and bikes available to borrow. Co-living residences like these often offer flexible leases starting at just 3 months. That flexibility can make them a good option for spending a summer working from a new city abroad or starting to make friends in a new city if you're moving for work where you don't know anyone.