Heartwood Cohousing Breaks Ground on Major Expansion After 25 Years

Hartwood co-housing celebrated their 25th anniversary on June 14th with a groundbreaking ceremony to begin phase two of their co-housing community. You are watching the local News network brought to you by Craigs Ace Hardware and the payroll department. I’m Sadie Smith Hartwood. Co-housing is expanding from 24 to 38 homes, but residents say it’s not just about the housing, it’s about connection.

The intention is to interact and to be, be helpful to each other. If I just wanted to live off by myself, it would, I mean, I wouldn’t have that, and particularly in suburbia where, you know, a lot of times people just sort of exist inside their houses, and the design of co-housing is actually such that we encourage interactions.

The neighborhood is designed for people to interact with each other. Cars are parked on the periphery of the neighborhood, and the homes are accessed via shared pathways.

I, I walk out, I walk down the pathway, I see somebody and we have a little conversation, and I think it’s in those small moments that we build relationship with each other. It’s not always these big events, but it’s just those small moments on the pathways.

According to residents, the biggest attraction to living in a co-housing development is the connection and community that isn’t always found in a traditional neighborhood.

It’s rooted in a desire for community that people have a sense that they don’t want to live in the lonely crowd of the city or anonymous neighborhoods. They want community.

The phase two expansion will add 14 new homes to the Bayfield Co-housing community.

We’ve got 24 currently and we’re adding 14. So then we’ll be, you know, a community of 38 homes

After 25 years. Residents say Hartwood continues to thrive on one simple principle

Connection and, and knowing people at this, knowing people over time and, and then getting to know new people. That’s, it’s, that’s I can, I absolutely cannot imagine living anywhere else.

For additional details on the co-housing development, visit the hartwood co-housing website, find more information about this and other stories at Durango Local News. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Network. I’m Sadie Smith.