When the Cohousing Co-operative was founded in 1991, they chose a Danish village housing model, cohousing, as the preferred housing model. Not all cohousing developments are co-operatives, and not all housing co-operatives are cohousing, but theirs is both.
History
The co-op formed in the early 90s out of common funds from the group who went on to build the Cascades Cohousing strata title project, about 300 metres away. Both groups had a strong commitment to consensus decision making, as learned in non-violent action (NVA) workshops in environmental protest groups (Franklin River era). Originally the co-op was called Rural Cohousing Co-operative Society Ltd, with Rural being later dropped.
The co-op was part of the Community Housing sector begun by the Hawke-Keating government to create a broader third sector of housing which did not exist with any depth in Australia: housing run by councils, churches, charities and resident managed co-operatives. It took a decade for their co-op to become fully funded, and thus build a cohousing style project at 201 Strickland Ave. In April 2000, they moved in.
Source: About Us — Cohousing Co-Op