So what are you all Hawaiians doing about it?

I just joined this Tribe and am currently living in Honolulu. I know of others who may also be interested in trying to develope something like this as well. I am not a very good organizer, but I would suggest putting a posting on one of out local Tribes, such as Oahu Luv or Beautiful People That Live On Oahu. I realize you aren't living out here yet, however perhaps there would be a way to oganize an internet chat or something of the sort.

Evan,
My wife and I lived at N-Street Cohousing in Davis, CA for a few years before we moved to Oahu in 2001. So far as I know there isn't any cohousing in the islands. I think the high cost of real estate is an impediment, but also I think there is so much naturally existing community in the islands that people don't feel as pressing a need for intentional community as on the mainland. Family ties are very strong in Hawaii, people move around less and don't move as far when they do, and there are more multi-generational households here than in any other state.

Of course, that doesn't help transplants like us who have left our families behind. We have to build our communities from scratch, one friend at a time. And it isn't always easy when you're working long hours to afford the high cost of living! So yes, I think there is a "market" in Hawaii for the cohousing idea. I know my wife and I would love to live in such a community again if we could. All the more so since our daughter was born (like your daughter she's two year's old). Raising her without the help of grandparents, aunts and uncles nearby to help out is quite a challenge. When we lived in co-housing we were childless, so I don't think we ever realized what an attractive part of the equation the support of other parents was.

Most cohousing developments on the mainland are new construction, designed and built as cohousing, but the N-Street model might actually be more workable in Hawaii where land and building costs are so extraordinarily high. N-Street evolved one house at a time as existing homes on an ordinary suburban block were bought up by interested individuals (or rented by them; a few of the homes are still owned by absentee landlords).

Where I live in Kailua I've watched the property in front of me, the one in back of me, one kitty-corner to mine, and two others only a few houses away go up for sale or rent in the last three years. Every time I've wished I knew somebody interested in cohousing with the means to buy or rent them! Actually we finally succeeded recently, and now some friends of ours live next door (they work at UH Manoa too BTW). The nucleus of a future cohousing community? Hopefully! But from what I saw at N Street, it doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't happen without a lot of effort, so realistically...who knows?

Anyway, if you don't get the faculty housing you might take a look at Kailua when you're shopping around for a place to live. The commute to UH sucks (I did it myself for two years- by bus!) but Kailua has a lot going for it. It's small enough that you can actually walk places, it's not as noisy and congested as the townside neighborhoods, it has a beautiful beach that's great for little kids, and of course it has our little cohousing seed!