Frequently Asked Questions

What is cohousing?

Cohousing is a form of intentional neighborhood in which residents actively participate in the design and operation of their own community.  The physical design encourages social contact while preserving privacy.

What are common features of cohousing communities?

1. Participation – Residents as a group drive the planning and design of the community and make all major decisions.

2. Designs that facilitate community – From the placement of mail boxes and walkways to the orientation of the houses, site design is focused on supporting easy and spontaneous social contact.

3. Extensive common facilities – Cohousing communities have what’s called a “Common House” – a beautiful house that typically includes a kitchen, large dining area and relaxed sitting areas as well as smaller side rooms for things like arts and crafts, yoga, exercise, wood working, reading and often some guest rooms. The facility is considered an extension of your home and is meant for daily use. Other shared facilities may include storage sheds, gazebos, walking trails, community gardens and other open spaces.

4. Complete resident management – All members share responsibility for the management and care of the community – building, maintaining and enriching it by participation in decisions and doing the work.

5. Non-hierarchical structure – Leadership is distributed and responsibility is shared.  There is no single leader or elected body that runs the community. Decisions in groups and teams are typically made by consensus, although some groups also use voting if the group cannot reach consensus after several tries. (This is rarely needed.) When information is shared well and processed maturely by the whole group, resulting decisions are both wiser and owned by everyone.

6. Volunteer economy – There is no shared community effort to produce income. The community is not a source of income for its members. Residents typically volunteer their labor as their contribution to shared responsibilities.

How many cohousing communities are there in the United States?

The first U.S. cohousing communities were built in the early 1990s. As of March 2025 there are close to 200 U.S. communities, according to the nonprofit Cohousing Association of the United States. Many others are in various stages of development. Most are intergenerational. Others are oriented more to people who are mostly 55 years or older.

How is Shepherd Village different from a commune?

Shepherd Village homes are privately owned, in fee simple, and there is no shared income or ideology.

What if I don’t feel like socializing all the time?

Very few of us feel like socializing all of the time. In cohousing, there is no expectation to be social at any particular time. Cohousing offers the choice of enjoying the privacy of your own home (and common areas that are not currently in use), or enjoying whatever happens to be going on in the neighborhood. How much you socialize is up to you. Many cohousers in other places create their own signs or symbols to let their neighbors know if they would prefer not to talk at the moment. Of course, those of us who choose to live here do so because, in general, we enjoy getting to know one another. Cohousing is actually very popular with introverts, because there’s no “work” required to socialize; it’s “built-in.”

What if I don’t like all my neighbors?

Well, don’t be surprised – would you expect to like every single person in a group of 30 households? There will naturally be some people with whom you get along better than others. But when that person who slightly annoys you picks you up at the airport or shows you how to grow scrumptious tomatoes, he or she might not seem so bad. You may even grow to like people whom you had earlier judged poorly. Some say that cohousing is the biggest personal growth experience you’ll ever have.

What is accessible design?

As people age, they sometimes need different features in their homes – like having sufficiently wide doorways to accommodate walkers or wheel chairs, easy-open door handles, walk-in showers, no steps required for daily living, etc. We have incorporated many of these “universal design” features.

Do residents have their own kitchens?

Yes, each residence has a fully-equipped, private kitchen. In addition, the Common House contains a large community kitchen where members can share as many meals or potlucks as they want each week.

How is Shepherd Village be physically maintained?

Members are responsible for the interior maintenance of their individual homes. Exterior maintenance and maintenance of the common property is shared. Some of the work is done by community members (for example, we get together on the first Friday of every month to clean the Common House) while some is contracted out and paid for with Homeowners Association fees..

How “green” is Shepherd Village?

While we recognize that building new housing has an environmental impact, Shepherd Village members value sustainability. Our homes are clustered together to protect woodlands and preserve open green spaces. Members worked with the architects during the building process to include energy-efficient and sustainable practices as much as possible. The Common House and many of the homes have solar panels. Living close to neighbors and friends and within a few  blocks of downtown reduces our vehicle fuel consumption. Some residents drive electric vehicles and we have three charging stations on site. Residents share things, such as tools, ladders, and lawn mowers, which reduces our need for every household to own these items. We make good use of our on-site recycling center, and we compost our yard and kitchen waste in our common garden.

Is there covered parking?

The community is pedestrian friendly, with a design that gives people priority over cars. Each household has one covered parking space available, mostly carports, with some garages. There are also clustered open parking spaces.

What do homeowners own?

Each Shepherd Village homeowner owns his/her own home, and the land under and immediately around it. Through the homeowners association, homeowners also own a share of the Common House, chicken coop and garden shed, workshop and about seven acres of conservation and common land areas.

What if I own a Shepherd Village home and decide to sell later?

You would sell your Shepherd Village home just as you would sell any other home that you owned conventionally, except that your buyer may need to meet the age restriction requirements (80% of our homes must have one household member 55 or older). Because we keep a list of people who have expressed interest in buying a home here and gone through our orientation process, most Shepherd Village homes sell very quickly, without the owner even having to hire a real estate agent or pay sales commissions.

Are there meetings?

We have monthly community meetings, which are planned, managed and evaluated to respect the energy and time of members and enable us to share in the work of running and living together in the Village. Each member is encouraged to become a part of one or two teams that meet to do much of the work of the community between monthly meetings..

What is consensus?

“Consensus decision making is a creative and dynamic way of reaching agreement between all members of a group.  Instead of simply voting for an item and having the majority of the group get their way, a group using consensus is committed to finding solutions that everyone actively supports, or at least can live with.” A fuller discussion of consensus decision-making is on the Seeds for Change website.

Who can/cannot live at Shepherd Village? 

At least 80% of our households must include one resident member who is 55 or older. Members are At least 80 percent of our households must include one resident member who is 55 or older. We have never had any difficulty meeting this quota! Members are expected to participate in the life of the community and share basic community values (mutual respect, tolerance, care for the earth and each other). There are responsibilities of membership, including attending meetings and participating in teams. Before joining, a prospective member will have extensive opportunity to interact with other members so that an informed decision can be made concerning how ready the person is for community life at Shepherd Village. We try to maintain a diverse community as much as possible because we believe that life is richer if many different viewpoints and experiences are shared.

What is a Common House?

A Common House is a space that is like an extension of each person’s individual home. The price of each home includes a share of the cost of the Common House. Owners share the space. The Common House is the heart of a cohousing community. Our Common House has a kitchen, spacious dining area suitable for shared meals and community meetings, comfortable living room, media room, exercise room, craft room, and guest rooms..

How do you handle shared meals?

Most cohousing communities have shared meals at least once a week. That’s our average as well. Some are potlucks; some are prepared by a team of volunteers, organized by our community Meals Team. Diners who sign up typically chip in a donation to cover the cost of groceries and supplies, and also help clean up after the meal.

What shared activities are there?

Besides common meals, meetings, work parties and other gatherings, cohousing makes it easy to become part of a group that does spontaneous activities together, such as watch  a movie on a big screen in the Common House, go for a hike, kayak, go out to dinner together or attend a lecture at nearby Shepherd University. The design of the community makes it easy to connect with people who enjoy the same things. The whole community celebrates some events together in the Common House or elsewhere on the land, such as around the bonfire pit adjacent to our Garden Center. Working together on teams while gardening, cooking or organizing social activities is a fun way to get to know neighbors and nurture new relationships.

Is there a “no smoking” policy?

Yes, our members have adopted a very clear “no smoking” policy concerning all buildings (private and shared) and anywhere on our  grounds. We are committed to the health and well-being of all of our members.