Welcome to East Bay Cohousing (EBCOHO). We're a decade-strong umbrella regional group now with over 1,000 members, the world's largest intentional communities MeetUp, providing outreach, community, and education, hosting core groups creating cohousing in the Urban East Bay, linking to the many established communities, and helping people start new ones.
East Bay Cohousing (EBCOHO) 6300.80sc

East Bay Cohousing (EBCOHO)

East Bay Cohousing (EBCOHO)'s activity stream


  • Boichik Bagels at Berkeley coho with Trish Becker, CohoUS national director

    Today: Meet National Cohousing Association ED Trish Becker over Boichik Bagels at Berkeley Cohousing!

    Learn more and RSVP here:

    https://www.ebcoho.org/becker_berkeley_boichik


  • Berkeley Cohousing Bagel Kick-off for Open House Weekend

    It's National Cohousing Open House Weekend! Lots of communities will be doing tours and events, both in person and virtual. Berkeley Cohousing founding member Alice

    Join EBCOHO co-organizer, Cohousing Coach Betsy Morris in the Common House at her home community, Berkeley Cohousing, for fresh-baked Boichik Bagels and a chance to plan your path to community.

    Meet some other community members and community seekers, and get a look around at this nearly-30-year-old community. Learn about its innovations in sustainability and affordability. Get info on cohousing workshops, area openings and opportunities, and how to get your own community going.

    Learn more and RSVP here:

    https://www.ebcoho.org/2023_open_house_kickoff_bagels_berkeley


  • Pleasant Hill Cohousing Monthly VIRTUAL Tour

    Pleasant Hill Cohousing - view of Common House and walk to homes

    Raines says: This regular monthly community tour and open house of the East Bay's biggest and most "suburban" cohousing neighborhood, Pleasant Hill cohousing, the first "new-build" classic cohousing community in the region, the largest in the East Bay, and a lovely community.

    Note that this is not an official MeetUp run by East Bay Cohousing, but we will pass along RSVPs that come in here.

    Normally every first Sunday of the month. CURRENTLY VIRTUAL - DO NOT COME TO THE SITE WITHOUT PRE-ARRANGEMENT FOR PROPER PROTECTION.

    Visit Pleasant Hill Cohousing's page on the EBCOHO MeetUp for more info, links, and current openings.

    If you need to cancel your reservation, or decide not to go, please let Pleasant Hill's volunteer tour guide know as soon as possible!

    Individual Homes

    Pleasant Hill Cohousing tour visiting a home

    There are 32 units, grouped in various configurations ranging from 2-6 homes per building. The buildings were constructed with wood framing, stucco outer walls, and corrogated metal roofing. The smallest units are 640 sq ft one-bedrooms; the largest are 1579 sq ft four-bedrooms.

    Each home has its own kitchen. The homes are owned individually as condominiums, with some rentals.

    Common Areas

    Our 3,835 sq ft Common House contains a kitchen, dining room ("great room"), sitting room, laundry, kids room, teens/older kids room, crafts room, guest rooms, and bathrooms.

    The Common House is the only building in the project that has air conditioning. However to minimize the use of air conditioning, the building also has a cooling tower with large fans that can be used in the evening to pull cooler air into the building and push hot air out.

    Other common facilities include swimming pool, hot tub, play area, workshop, bike shed, organic garden, and granite boulders from original site - both decorative and used by children for climbing.

    Location

    We're conveniently located near Highway 680 and public transportation, with easy access to Walnut Creek, shopping, and recreation.

    Pleasant Hill, population 32,000, is located 30 miles east of San Francisco, 4 miles north of the I-680/Hwy 24 interchange. Mostly a residential community with scattered retail/commercial areas, it is bounded by the cities of Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Concord, and Martinez. Pleasant Hill has recently (2000) redeveloped its downtown to create a contemporary shopping district just blocks from the site. In addition, an abundance of good restaurants and shops are within easy driving distance. The city has good recreation programs for all ages and regional walking/biking trails traverse it.

     

    Iron Horse Trail

    A walking and biking trail - the Iron Horse Trail (so named because it's on the old Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way) - runs alongside the site and connects to the Pleasant Hill BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station (~1 mile) and downtown Walnut Creek (~4 miles). The 24-mile trail goes north-south from Concord to Dublin and connects to several other trails that traverse the county making for great biking opportunities.

    A neighborhood park is located just the other side of Fair Oaks Elementary School adjacent to the site. Briones Regional Park and Mt. Diablo State Park are located nearby providing numerous opportunities for hiking and recreation. There are several health clubs in Pleasant Hill including the YMCA.

    Diablo Valley Community College and JFK University are located in Pleasant Hill, and there are several city and county adult education programs in the area.

    There are multiple venues nearby for movies, theater, music and other performing arts including the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, the Willows Theater Company in Concord, and the Concord Pavillion.

    There are farmers markets in Pleasant Hill (May-Nov) and Walnut Creek (year-round). Several community members participate in a CSA farm, Terra Firma Farms, with a weekly delivery of locally grown organic fruits and vegies made even more convenient because we are the drop site. 

    WHEN
    November 05, 2023 at 1:30pm
    WHERE
    Pleasant Hill Cohousing VIA ZOOM
    1 rsvp rsvp

  • Pleasant Hill Cohousing Monthly VIRTUAL Tour

    Pleasant Hill Cohousing - view of Common House and walk to homes

    Raines says: This regular monthly community tour and open house of the East Bay's biggest and most "suburban" cohousing neighborhood, Pleasant Hill cohousing, the first "new-build" classic cohousing community in the region, the largest in the East Bay, and a lovely community.

    Note that this is not an official MeetUp run by East Bay Cohousing, but we will pass along RSVPs that come in here.

    Normally every first Sunday of the month. CURRENTLY VIRTUAL - DO NOT COME TO THE SITE WITHOUT PRE-ARRANGEMENT FOR PROPER PROTECTION.

    Visit Pleasant Hill Cohousing's page on the EBCOHO MeetUp for more info, links, and current openings.

    If you need to cancel your reservation, or decide not to go, please let Pleasant Hill's volunteer tour guide know as soon as possible!

    Individual Homes

    Pleasant Hill Cohousing tour visiting a home

    There are 32 units, grouped in various configurations ranging from 2-6 homes per building. The buildings were constructed with wood framing, stucco outer walls, and corrogated metal roofing. The smallest units are 640 sq ft one-bedrooms; the largest are 1579 sq ft four-bedrooms.

    Each home has its own kitchen. The homes are owned individually as condominiums, with some rentals.

    Common Areas

    Our 3,835 sq ft Common House contains a kitchen, dining room ("great room"), sitting room, laundry, kids room, teens/older kids room, crafts room, guest rooms, and bathrooms.

    The Common House is the only building in the project that has air conditioning. However to minimize the use of air conditioning, the building also has a cooling tower with large fans that can be used in the evening to pull cooler air into the building and push hot air out.

    Other common facilities include swimming pool, hot tub, play area, workshop, bike shed, organic garden, and granite boulders from original site - both decorative and used by children for climbing.

    Location

    We're conveniently located near Highway 680 and public transportation, with easy access to Walnut Creek, shopping, and recreation.

    Pleasant Hill, population 32,000, is located 30 miles east of San Francisco, 4 miles north of the I-680/Hwy 24 interchange. Mostly a residential community with scattered retail/commercial areas, it is bounded by the cities of Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Concord, and Martinez. Pleasant Hill has recently (2000) redeveloped its downtown to create a contemporary shopping district just blocks from the site. In addition, an abundance of good restaurants and shops are within easy driving distance. The city has good recreation programs for all ages and regional walking/biking trails traverse it.

     

    Iron Horse Trail

    A walking and biking trail - the Iron Horse Trail (so named because it's on the old Southern Pacific Railroad right-of-way) - runs alongside the site and connects to the Pleasant Hill BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) station (~1 mile) and downtown Walnut Creek (~4 miles). The 24-mile trail goes north-south from Concord to Dublin and connects to several other trails that traverse the county making for great biking opportunities.

    A neighborhood park is located just the other side of Fair Oaks Elementary School adjacent to the site. Briones Regional Park and Mt. Diablo State Park are located nearby providing numerous opportunities for hiking and recreation. There are several health clubs in Pleasant Hill including the YMCA.

    Diablo Valley Community College and JFK University are located in Pleasant Hill, and there are several city and county adult education programs in the area.

    There are multiple venues nearby for movies, theater, music and other performing arts including the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, the Willows Theater Company in Concord, and the Concord Pavillion.

    There are farmers markets in Pleasant Hill (May-Nov) and Walnut Creek (year-round). Several community members participate in a CSA farm, Terra Firma Farms, with a weekly delivery of locally grown organic fruits and vegies made even more convenient because we are the drop site. 

    WHEN
    October 01, 2023 at 1:30pm
    WHERE
    Pleasant Hill Cohousing VIA ZOOM
    4 rsvps rsvp

  • published Brunch with Cynthia in Berkeley 2022-09-17 12:59:47 -0700

    Brunch with Cynthia

    Don't let the rain get you down. Come on in to a Cohousing Common House in Berkeley and enjoy a bagel brunch Sunday (9/18) with Cynthia Tina, Director of Foundation for Intentional Community (FIC), the international support group for all kinds of community.

    Read more

  • published Partners 2021-03-16 19:53:08 -0700

  • published East Bay Events 2021-03-15 10:14:04 -0700

  • published Cohousing in Emeryville in Emeryville 2021-03-15 00:04:45 -0700

    Cohousing in Emeryville

    The City of Emeryville, tucked in between Berkeley and Oakland on the Eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay Area, is the home to the Bay Area’s first cohousing neighborhood, as well as a cohousing-ish Artists’ Coop that predates the concept. Here’s where you can register your interest and learn about opportunities.


  • Time to Support Tenant Opportunity to Purchase (TOPA) in Berkeley

    For years, EBCOHO members have asked us how they can buy property and create affordable cohousing and cooperative communities here in Berkeley and Oakland.

    Well, the time has come --- both cities are considering a new Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) which will make that more possible than any time in the last 25 years!   TOPA means tenants will get notice from landlords before their building goes on the market, and can band together to make an offer, or designate a community partner to negotiate on their behalf -- and then be eligible for public funds. 

     

    Read more

  • TOPA is the Only Future for Cooperative Affordable Communities in Berkeley. Ask City Council to pass the Tenant Opportunities to Purchase Act

    Over the years, EBCOHO has brought together many people with a vision of creating a community of homes.  Pooling funds and/or government loans to build a new housing cooperative like Berkeley Townhouse, or Savo Island Co-op, was possible in the 1960s and 1970s. Buying existing apartment buildings or cottage court like Parker Street Coop or Addison Court Coop or Berkeley Cohousing was possible without public funds in the 1980s and early 1990s.  

    At this point, the prices and the speed and the secrecy of real estate sales with unknown buyers using investment fund cash not available to ordinary people, even with households with two incomes, the majority of people, people with moderate or low incomes.  

    TOPA, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act is the best possibility  Berkeley, like the rest of the Bay Area, continues to face a housing crisis, one driven by a hot housing market and record high construction costs, and a thirty year shortfall in new housing built throughout the state.  New market rate housing, even with density bonuses for a few below market rate units, is closely related to displacement of tenants living nearby as the rents on existing housing stock driving up market rates for new apartments and single family homes.

    Realtors and rental property investors have come out strong over the past year promoting misinformation and outright lies against a bill that requires tenants be notified of the sale of their home and be allowed a few weeks to organize a collective bid or request a pre-qualified community housing development organization to bid on their behalf.

    The owner is not required to accept that bid, but if they receive a bid they like, the tenants have another smaller window of time to make another offer.  OWNERS choose at all times when, to whom and the price. NO ONE IS FORCED TO SELL AT ANY TIME TO ANYONE except at their own choice. There are even exemptions if for some reason they need to sell quickly for medical or family emergencies. A group called BRIDGE Association of Realtors put out anonymous flyers on the steps of Black Churches claiming TOPA was a racist land grab and a return to redlining (segregated neighborhoods).  Why would anyone want to distort TOPA? Because Realtors don’t want properties taken off the market. 

    With 75% of the city’s low-income census tracts at risk of or undergoing displacement and a continued loss of thousands of Black households, Berkeley desperately needs anti-displacement strategies that prioritize low income renters and communities of color. One of those strategies is the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA).

    TOPA prevents displacement by empowering tenants with choices for their future housing when the owner of a rental property decides to sell (learn how it works here!). In Washington, DC, TOPA has helped preserve over 3500 units of affordable housing since 2002, and those numbers continue to grow. 

    Berkeley’s TOPA policy is designed to:

    • Prevent displacement of low-income communities of color and marginalized tenants

    • Create permanently affordable housing

    • Create pathways to ownership for tenants and promote democratic residential management

    • Stabilize housing for existing tenants

    • Give tenants choice and voice regarding their housing

    • Make sure buildings needing costly repairs for safety and accessibility without forcing prices above what tenants can pay 

    • Protect rental housing from speculative investment by keeping them in the community

    Now is the time for Berkeley to pass a TOPA policy that helps meet Berkeley’s housing crisis and needs. 

    We can’t do this without you. Raise your voice for TOPA today!

    we’ll include your digital signature in our attendance at a council committee meeting discussing TOPA this Thursday. Not sure yet? Want to help recruit others? Join our Zoom call Wednesday at 5:30 PM.

    77 signatures

    Dear Councilmembers,

    Please support the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA). The time to support TOPA is now. It's been tested in Washington, DC for 40 years, modified for Berkeley's needs and is an important tool in preventing displacement, preserving racial and economic diversity and creating pathways to ownership and long-term neighbor cooperation and resilience.

    TOPA can be part of addressing our community's history of exclusionary policy and promoting a Berkeley of opportunity and stability.

    As a member of East Bay Cohousing, I believe that TOPA can help make it easier for me to stay in Berkeley and co-create permanently affordable community.

    I urge you to vote YES on TOPA and will stand behind you in your support.

    Add signature