Vashon Cohousing

Eighteen households make up Vashon Cohousing. We have a mature and bountiful orchard. Our common house – with three guestrooms, a large dining room and a full commercial kitchen – is a place where we host friends and families, hold parties, share meals and gather for meetings. More than eight acres of natural areas – rich in bird life – surround our homes.

Working together keeps our community beautiful! Each household works about 10 hours each month to support and maintain our neighborhood. Filling potholes, shoveling compost, mowing grass, answering email inquiries, creating meeting agendas, planting potatoes, and so much more!

Cider pressings. Potlucks. Bonfires. Work Parties. Bird walks. Regular meetings and gatherings. We find ways to create community, engage children and enjoy each other’s company.

Adults who are more socially connected are healthier and live longer than their more isolated peers, and social disconnectedness and perceived isolation seem to be independently associated with lower levels of self-rated physical health.

However, many of us find it gets increasingly difficult to maintain a sense of connectedness. Marla Paul describes the problem well in her book The Friendship Crisis. “Simply put, we’re on our own more often now. The old structures don’t function the way they used to. We hurdle through life and don’t have time to get to know the people on our block. Many of us are flung far from parents, siblings, and cousins. Work friendships fracture as companies slash budgets and employees, and more people are isolated in home offices as telecommuters or in home-based businesses. Even marriage is a wobbly source of both companionship and social webbing. … Clearly, we need to craft our own tribes.”

Cohousing is an answer to this need for social webbing. Originating in Denmark in the 1960s, cohousing has become popular in both Europe and the United States over the past two decades. Nearly 200 cohousing communities exist in the United States today, ranging in size and shape but nearly all premised on the belief that people are happier, healthier and more resilient if they live in community.

Don’t take our word for it:

• The New York Times – Modern Housing With Village Virtues (with a cameo from someone raised in Vashon Cohousing!)
• The origins of cohousing.
• Cohousing: The secret to sustainable urban living?

Vashon Cohousing is situated on 12 acres in a location many of us find ideal: Vashon town – small, vibrant and fun – is a five-minute walk one direction. Island Center Forest – 363 acres of publicly owned woods laced with nine miles of trails – is a five-minute walk the other direction.

Adjacent to cohousing are five acres of farmland owned by a nonprofit community land trust. Some cohousers lease portions of the land, where they raise chickens or grow blueberries and flowers. A group called Shoulder-to-Shoulder – comprised of members of cohousing as well as other people from the island – runs a small communal farm, where they grow organic vegetables for their families and friends.

Vashon is part of unincorporated King County, which provides a variety of services to the island. Metro buses operate daily, running the length of the island. A water taxi, owned and operated by the county, provides direct service to downtown Seattle, enabling islanders to commute to jobs in the city. Washington State Ferries also provides ferry service: a ferry terminal on the north end of the island takes passengers to Fauntleroy in West Seattle and Southworth on the Kitsap Peninsula; a terminal on the south end provides access to Tacoma.