Existing Communities

Wild Sage Cohousing (Boulder, CO) - Wonderland Hill Development Company has developed this community in which nearly 40% of the homes are deed restricted affordable housing units. Each of the communities has a mix of market rate and affordable units with little perceived impact on the cost and pricing of the market rate units, and little or no direct subsidy for the affordable units.  This was accomplished primarily through density bonuses granted to the projects because of the affordable units included on site. In the Wild Sage community the 13 affordable units were priced at $70,000 to $170,000, and include 4 Habitat for Humanity units. The 21 market rate units were priced from $ 212,000 to $434,000.


Silver Sage (Boulder, CO) - Also developed by Wonderland Hill Development Company, Silver Sage cohousing community is a New Urban mixed use and mixed income development of which 40% of the homes are deed restricted and affordable to lower income residents.  The whole neighborhood was given a density bonus of up to double that allowed by the base zoning.  In addition some city housing funds were passed through to the master developer, the development arm of the Housing Authority.  This enabled the master developer to sell the cohousing sites at a lower price, which in turn enabled the affordable units to be built on budget and without substantially impacting the prices of the market rate units.  The total site cost for each project was only between 10% and 12% of their total project budgets. At the Silver Sage Senior Cohousing community the range was from $125,000 to $800,000 with 6 of the 16 units being deed restricted affordable.  This economic diversity has in general has added to the richness and quality of life for all community members.   

Petaluma Avenue Homes (Sebastapol, CA) - Developed by Affordable Housing Associates, Inc., Petaluma Avenue Homes, a cohousing development located one-half mile from downtown Sebastopol, California, is probably the most extensive example of affordable cohousing. Petaluma Avenue Homes is an LIHTC affordable rental development designed and developed to function as much like cohousing as possible.  The forty-five unit LIHTC project wascompleted in 2009 and recently won the Affordable Housing Finance Magazine National Reader’s Choice Award for Best Family Development, as well as the Pacific Builder’s Gold Nugget Grand Award for Best Affordable Housing Project of 2010. Affordable Housing Associates, Inc., the project developer based in Berkeley partnered with McCamant & Durrett Architects, an architecture firm nationally known for cohousing and green design. The rental cohousing development consists of forty-five units situated around two courtyards on a 2.5-acre site featuring a common garden, common terrace, and a 3,100 square-foot common house. The unit mix consists of one-, two-, and three-bedroom units, with all units serving 30 percent to 50 percent AMI families and seniors. The project was funded by debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank, 9 percent LIHTC equity financing from Hudson Housing Capital, AHP funds from Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and public funding from City of Sebastopol and Sonoma County. The generous common space and extra amenities were underwritten to maintain affordable rent levels.

Troy Gardens (Madison WI) - Collaborative project between the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Madison Area Community Land Trust.  Troy Gardens, a 31-acre cohousing project, is a model of conservation-based affordable housing development. Troy Gardens is the only cohousing project developed by a community land trust to date, and one of a handful of mixed-income cohousing projects where the majority of the homes are income-restricted.