Welcome to Lost Lake Cohousing! We're thrilled that you're interested in joining our community of members spanning generations from age 4 to 80. At Lost Lake Cohousing, you'll find a warm and supportive environment where you can connect with your neighbors and enjoy the benefits of shared living.
Here are some examples of households who have already joined Lost Lake Cohousing and are committed to designing and building a high functioning neighbourhood.
Join us at Lost Lake Cohousing and discover the joys of collaborative living. We can't wait to meet you!
Jocelyn's Family
Hello! I’m Jocelyn (her/she)! I am 38 years old with two beautiful children ages 7 and 10 and a small dog.
I grew up in a community-minded family. My parents worked hard but always connected with neighbours and friends nearby. During my childhood, I loved riding my bike to friends’ houses or walking down the street to visit them. Since moving back to Nanaimo, I haven’t quite found my community or had the connections I would like to have long term for my family.
Cohousing seems like the obvious choice. I want my children to be in a community with people that will look out for them and nurture them. When I toured Pacific Gardens Cohousing, I saw how that in cohousing we can share common rooms like the playroom and craft room and build connections with neighbours, so we will have the opportunity to connect and also still having our own space.
I am so excited to be part of Lost Lake Cohousing and I am excited to connect with all the people who will live there.
Ian
Welcome! My name is Ian (him/he) and I’m a senior who loves adventure, learning new things and being alone and being with others. I’ve lived in Nanaimo since the 1980’s when I opened Island Hearing Service, which I managed for 23 years. I lived in Departure Bay, then moved to Lost Lake area, where now the new co-housing project will be built.
Travel and adventure call me, such as hiking into Machu Pichu, Peru and kayaking Haida Gwai and the Westcoast.
As a commercial salmon troller, I owned two boats and fished the Gulf, the north coast and Haida Gwai.
I greatly enjoyed being a Dad for my two kids. When I attended a pot-luck supper at Pacific Gardens co-housing, I decided to get involved in the Lost Lake Cohousing project. I love “kid energy” and knew Lost lake was going to be multi-generational. Plus, the adults were friendly and kind.
Yonas and Jen have guided this process of developing the new project masterfully and everything is on-track.
Our meetings to develop the use of the 3 acres –the housing buildings, common house, auto storage, workshop, roads, pathways and the myriad of details –have been intense, productive and enjoyable. I appreciate how methodical and professional the development process is.
I look forward to meeting you!
Kevin's Family
Hi, I am Kevin (him/he) and I have lived in Nanaimo almost 6 years, and I am co-parenting our 5 year old daughter and loving Aussie-doodle.
I joined Lost Lake Cohousing for more social connection for my family. I love the serenity and mindfulness of creating art, writing, music and wanting exposure to more of these and connectedness through learning other creative arts such as cooking, preserving, needlework, gardening and more.
We are becoming more integrated in the community of Nanaimo and area as my daughter grows, and a big part of her development and my own is being in a multigenerational and multicultural environment so that we may all connect in more meaningful ways and have a much bigger “family”.
The Lost Lake site is beautiful and the people involved so far are very passionate, keen on sharing their life expertise in many areas. I am excited to be a co-creator in this process and to be able to continue connecting through creating our diverse and caring culture once our new home construction is completed. We look forward to meeting our new community members as we go along – I hope you check us out!
Jeffrey
My name is Jeffrey (him/he). I’m a retired senior living near Shawnigan Lake.
I have long been attracted to the notion of cohousing ever since I initially learned of it from Danish and then US sources. It ideally marries the notion of co-operative living with the security of tenure associated with freehold stratification in BC land tenure law.
Two couples we know are both entirely satisfied with their choice at living in cohousing – at Pacific Gardens in Nanaimo. I am looking forward to living in a milieu that includes multi-generational families/households at its start. By the time the project is ready for move-in, my grandchildren will be old enough to travel, and on their visits they’ll benefit from the presence of others of their age at Lost Lake Cohousing.
Life on the “wet” coast of Canada is certainly not what I’d intended, nor what I’d thought possible, when I launched a college career at Harvard University. I love my idyllic life on Vancouver Island and Canada’s west coast. And the view from 125 metres above the Salish Sea is stunning at our site for Lost Lake Cohousing.
Hope to meet you soon and can’t wait to show you our ocean view!