UK Co-housing Network: Senior Co-housing Network

Co-housing is a way of living that brings individuals together in groups to share common aims and activities, while also enjoying their own self-contained accommodation and personal space.

Co-housing has taken off as a model for living in later life in the Netherlands, US and Denmark and can improve older peoples' lives by reducing isolation, encouraging active contribution to a community, developing new interests, pooling service budgets and encouraging peer support.

There are currently several successful co-housing communities in the UK but as yet it has failed to be adopted as a model of living in later life - despite strong interest from older people and government.

The UK Co-housing Network has developed a service that connects interested older people and co-housing groups with developers, helping to overcome some of the barriers that currently exist for interested groups to make their co-housing development a reality.

It also provides a consultancy service to developers and housing associations who would like to offer a greater choice in their developments and services.