How It Started
In August 2024, at the US Cohousing Conference in Denver, Township founder Alastair Townsend met Ronaye and Margaret over lunch. All three shared a conviction that professional guidance — engaged from the very start — is what separates cohousing groups that succeed from those that stall. They decided to put that into practice together.
The result is Esquimalt Village Cohousing in Greater Victoria, BC. Within twelve months, the group had recruited nine households, purchased a development site, and filed a rezoning application — a pace that validated the professionally led model they had designed together. That shared success made formalizing their collaboration the obvious next step.
Ronaye Matthew
Senior Development Consultant & Advisor
Ronaye is one of Canada’s most experienced cohousing development consultants, having guided twelve communities from concept through to move-in over more than two decades as founder of Cohousing Development Consulting (CDC). Her expertise covers project management, financing, governance, marketing, and community formation — the full arc of what it takes to bring a cohousing group to reality.
A board member of the Canadian Cohousing Network since 1996, Ronaye has lived at Cranberry Commons Cohousing in British Columbia since 2001. She brings to Township a wealth of proven frameworks and hard-won practical knowledge.
“Alastair is a skilled professional and a delight to work with! I am very pleased to be a part of this collaborative team to support more groups to achieve their dream of living in community.”
— Ronaye Matthew, Senior Development Consultant & Advisor
Margaret Critchlow, PhD
Community Building Facilitator & Advisor
Margaret spent twenty-five years as a professor of Social Anthropology at York University before becoming a founding member of Harbourside Cohousing on Vancouver Island, where she has lived since 2016. She provided community building services to Ronaye’s company for West Wind Harbour and Ravens Crossing Cohousing. She is the co-author, with Ronaye, of Community-Led Housing: A Cohousing Development Approach, and has developed facilitation programs and online courses that have helped prospective residents across Canada understand and prepare for cohousing life.
At Township, Margaret facilitates community building, member outreach, and consensus decision-making processes — ensuring the social foundation of every project is as carefully built as the physical one.
“Alastair is a big-picture thinker who pays attention to detail and takes a collaborative approach to project management. I’m proud to be part of his team, and thrilled that Township is making more cohousing possible!“
— Margaret Critchlow, PhD, Community Building Facilitator & Advisor
A Complete Team
With Ronaye and Margaret now part of Township, clients work with a team that covers the full range of what cohousing development requires:
- Alastair Townsend — development management, real estate execution, and architectural background
- Ronaye Matthew — twelve completed communities and 25+ years of cohousing development practice
- Margaret Critchlow — social science expertise, facilitation, and deep knowledge of how communities form and endure
A first project, Esquimalt Village Cohousing has proved how effectively our collaborative model of community led model of cohousing works. Those systems, templates, and practices can now be brought to future communities with greater speed and confidence.
“Working alongside Ronaye and Margaret has been one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my career. They bring a depth of knowledge and a generosity of spirit that has made this a genuinely collaborative partnership from day one. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to work with professionals of their caliber to expand cohousing throughout both Canada and the United States.”
— Alastair Townsend, Founder, Township
Are you ready to build your community?
Cohousing succeeds when groups get professional guidance from the start — and Township has assembled the team to guide your group from early vision through a clear, proven process from start to finish. If you are exploring how to turn a shared vision, a piece of land, or an existing development into a thriving neighborhood, Township can help you move from inspiration to a clear, realistic roadmap.
