Hope Cohousing—a community interest company—is working to establish a small cohousing project for older people in St Margaret’s Hope, Orkney, as a lasting community benefit. Six new, eco-aware, affordable rental homes will be built for people wanting to live independently and build a supportive community. The project will have shared amenities, a garden….and chickens.
Since early in 2024, HCH has been under the umbrella of the Communities Housing Trust (CHT). Backed by the Scottish Government, the Trust is the leading charitable organisation for facilitating community-led housing in central and northern Scotland. When the homes are built, they will be owned by CHT. The responsibility for day-to-day management will lie with the HCH residents.
Find out more about the project; become a Friend of Hope Cohousing.
Contact us if you have questions about HCH.
In the news
The Orkney News has reported on the HCH June meet-up in Stromness Community Centre and the progress of The Housing (Scotland) Bill through Parliament. The piece concludes:
The Hope Co-Housing project not only delivers affordable accommodation for older people but once built it lights the way forward for the future direction for housing in Orkney as a community owned asset.[June 10, 2025]
Our latest newsletter is now out with lots of news snippets. Click to view. [June 2, 2025]
A visitor from OWCH: We were very pleased to welcome Rachel Douglas from OWCH (Older Women’s Co-Housing), a landmark cohousing initiative based in North London. It took them nearly 16 years to realise their vision (it finally opened in 2016), and they have been an inspiration to us – and to many others in the cohousing field. It was fascinating to hear Rachel talk about the development and what they have learnt about developing, organising and managing a project like this [May 19, 2025].
Ariane Burgess on cohousing: Writing in The Orcadian [May 8, 2025], the Highlands and Islands Green MSP reports on the work she is undertaking on the current Housing Bill to place a greater emphasis on alternative housing approaches such as cohousing, co-operatives, and community land trusts. For example, she hosted a well-attended event focused on cohousing in the Scottish Parliament that included the housing minister and a number of MSPs. She highlights Hope Cohousing’s vision of building homes that meet local needs.
A future living among friends: A great piece about Hope Cohousing appeared in The Scotsman (05.05.2025). Written by Rob Aberdein, it argues that social isolation and the housing crisis are ‘being tackled in a bold housing experiment in Orkney’. He concludes that we are more than a housing project:
it’s a proof of concept for a different way of living in Scotland. If successful, it could influence planners, policymakers, and other rural communities to embrace co-housing as part of the solution to Scotland’s ongoing ‘housing crisis’.
You can find the article online in The Scotsman.
Click for more HCH news.
Resources
Featured article: Why cohousing is good for people and communities – the evidence. [Updated January 2024]
Creating a cohousing project: Materials and videos exploring different aspects of putting together a cohousing project.
Look out for: Burray and South Ronaldsay: Local services. [New and updated]. See also the new Exploring South Ronaldsay site which began life onthese pages.
For more about the development of cohousing in Scotland, click on the Cohousing Scotland logo below.
updated: June 15, 2025