North Oakland Cohousing is one of the most active core groups forming community and searching for a cohousing site in the East Bay. Scroll down for an update on the history of the group, and recent developments.

---

Dear Friends of North Oakland Cohousing, (as of Summer, 2008)

We are finally breaking our silence of many months to let you know what is happening with our group and cohousing project. For those of you who have been waiting in the wings to check out, or have been waiting to join our group, we are very happy to announce that we are finally ready to hold orientations again. More about that at the end of this message.

The last eight months have been full of big changes and new developments for our group. In early fall we parted ways with our project manager, Cohousing Resources, after coming to the conclusion that CR was not performing the services our group needed while charging us a considerable amount of money. At approximately the same time we discovered that we had received some inaccurate assessments of the unit mix and cost potential of the Kingfish site, which we were in contract to purchase. The housing market took a downturn at the same time, as well, radically changing the landscape for building and buying housing.

Due to these developments, we walked away from the purchase and sale contract for the Kingfish at the beginning of this year. This was not an easy decision for us, as we had already spent money on that project, but the down trend in the market is now working to our advantage, and it looks likely that we'll be able to cover the Kingfish-related expenses in a new project and still wind up with homes we can buy at market rates. Walking away from the Kingfish has also meant that our group, which started out on a fast track with a site, has now had to retool as a group in site search mode.

As you might imagine, many of these changes have been hard for us. However, the picture definitely has its good sides. We remain a strong cohesive group committed to building cohousing. We have an LLC, money in the bank, and ten Equity Member households (who've put down significant money toward a unit) as well as four Associate households, who are involved with the group and are considering membership. Those of you who've been around the cohousing block will know that getting a group to this point is a big asset, and not easy to do.

We have been gradually adjusting our financial expectations, honing our communication and other structures, developing site criteria for a new site, and gearing up for this new phase of our development. Currently, we are actively looking at two sites, and are considering others. Most encouragingly, after months of focusing on refocusing and reassessing our situation, we're ready to once more begin outreach to potential new members.

If you are thinking of getting involved with our project, or just want to learn more, we invite you to come to our orientation meeting (keep an eye on the EBCOHO calendar for details). Here, you will have a chance to meet our members and talk to us about our project in more detail. For those of you considering joining the group, attending an orientation meeting within a month of joining is also the first required step (that also means that those of you who came to an orientation months ago and are now considering joining should come to another one now).

Thank you for being a friend of North Oakland Cohousing. We look forward to meeting some of you at the orientation. Children are welcome to attend the orientation with an accompanying adult.

Jonnie Pekelny
for North Oakland Cohousing
http://www.northoakla...