Houston Chronicle | Business

By Marissa Luck, Staff Writer

January 21, 2022

A long-anticipated cohousing development is finally coming to fruition as a group of Houstonians break ground on what’s being described as the first cohousing development in Texas.

CoHousing Houston is starting construction Friday on a 33-unit residential community on a 1.5-acre property at 114 Delmar in the East End. Residents are expected to move in by 2023.

Building Design + Construction

By David Malone, Managing Editor

January 20, 2022

A new residential community concept will break ground in East End Houston on Jan. 21, 2022. The multimillion-dollar cohousing project is the first of its kind in Texas and will serve as an interactive livable space for neighbors in a sustainable environment.

A cohousing community is intended to provide its residents unique benefits such as fostering a sense of belonging by sharing a common purpose. Isolation is minimized through a physical and social design that naturally facilitates community interactions. Residents may also share the cost of everyday living expenses such as transportation, groceries, and internet usage.

NaturalAwakenings, Eco Brief

By Mike Hart

January, 2022

CoHousing Houston, a group of dedicated community-minded individuals, formed a development company to build their own cohousing neighborhood in Texas. The project, designed bu architects English and Associates of Houston, Texas and Caddis PC of Boulder, Colorado has 33 one to four bedroom units. The heart of the property is a 4,000+sq ft "Common House" which is used by cohousers as a meeting place, A venue for community dinners and other events that build relationships amongst residents.

New York Times, Opinion

By Judith Shulevitz

Oct 22, 2021

American moms are isolated, overworked and undersupported. The solution may be living together, separately. 

Connecting with Dr. Kim Swales

Oct 21, 2021

In this episode, Kim interviews Lynn Morstead and Kelli Soika, founding members of CoHousing Houston. They talk about what cohousing is, the benefits and design, and who this type of community might be great for.  This episode is one that will inform you about something you may not have known much about before and is a likely growing trend in the US and abroad.  Listen in as these women talk about this passionate new project that is all about connection and community.

Houstonia

Home & Realestate

By Laura Furr Mericas

Feb. 2, 2021

HOUSTON’S FIRST-EVER COHOUSING COMMUNITY IS UNDERWAY in the East End: Last spring, a group of like-minded livers selected a site at 115 Lennox Ave to construct Cohousing Houston, which puts connection and the environment ahead of just about everything else.

Kathleen English, founder of English + Associates Architects, and her husband are one of 14 member households that are already onboard for the project that’s slated to wrap up in fall 2022. She and her firm also happen to be designing the property and homes there—which range from $330,000 to $780,000 for one to four bedrooms—with the help of Caddis Collaborative out of Boulder, Colorado. 

English spoke with Houstonia about cohabitating, coworking, and even co-gardening in the community.  

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Houston Chronicle Business

Real-estate: Looped In

R.A. Schuetz, Nancy Sarnoff

Nov. 6, 2020

We’ve all heard of coworking. But cohousing? Not so much. That’s because there are no cohousing communities in Texas, something a group of Houstonians are planning to change.

They’re designing a 33-unit condominium in the East End where a sense of community will be the key amenity, a need for which they believe the pandemic has underscored. Think shared meals (or, during socially distant times, outdoor happy hours) and decision-making that revolves around consensus, not votes.

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Houston Chronicle Opinion: Outlook

Torie Ludwin, Sep. 26, 2020

Kelli Soika knows the value of a great neighbor. Her old neighbors were the kind of people who notice and care about those around them: A quick wave from the window when you walk past, an answered call when you worry that you left your stove on, or an offer of a beer when you’re reading on your porch on a hot afternoon. Great neighbors make everyone’s lives better. They make a community a richer place.

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Rice Design Alliance

Torie Ludwin, Sep. 3, 2020

For the past seventy-five years, residential architecture has prioritized the individual private space of the single-family home. Outside, the car has dominated the transportation landscape, diminishing the possibility for people to interact with each other and to establish a sense of community and connection with others. The cohousing paradigm attempts to make changes to this dynamic, and it’s coming to Houston.

Cohousing is a form of communal living that organizes private residences and shared public spaces together into a larger residential arrangement. Examples of cohousing have been realized throughout the United States since the early 1990s. Now Cohousing Houston (CH), a newly formed local group, is laying the groundwork to be the first cohousing project in Texas.

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Houston Chronicle Business

Real-estate (Prime Property)

R.A. Schuetz

Mar. 3, 2020

A group of people looking to build a cohousing condo development -- a type of housing with a focus on communal living -- has land in the East End under contract.  If developed, the project would likely be the first cohousing community in the state.

Cohousing is a collection of private homes grouped around shared spaces that usually include a communal kitchen and dining area, a guest house and a garden. While shared spaces are nothing new — condominiums and neighborhood associations typically offer communal rooftop decks or clubhouses — shared spaces in cohousing developments are not designed to serve as amenities, but as keystones to community. Common dining areas are home to regularly-scheduled communal meals that aim to bring neighbors closer together.