About Lykkå Cohabitation
For six years, Lykkå has been exploring a simple but essential question:
What does it actually take to live well together, in our homes, with our neighbours, and in community?
At Lykkå Cohabitation, we invite people to create the community they crave, so that we together, can building brave spaces where real belonging rather then simply fitting in can thrive.
Community living offers a meaningful response to many of the challenges we are facing today: loneliness, overwhelm, mental and emotional strain, lack of day-to-day support, and an increasingly inaccessible housing system. It also opens pathways toward more sustainable, resource-sharing ways of living in the face of ecological challenges.
At the same time, the barriers are not only external.
Many of us carry learned fears shaped by our upbringing, culture, and past experiences, fears that can make it hard to feel safe enough to reach for a shared dream: living closer to others, sharing space and resources, and relying on one another in more intentional ways.
Lykkå Cohabitation was created to support both sides of this journey.
Many of us long for closer lives with our neighbours, more shared care, more support in daily life, and more ease. Yet cultural conditioning, past experiences, and real structural barriers often make it difficult to take that step alone.
Lykkå Cohabitation exists to make shared living safer, clearer, and more accessible — relationally, practically, and over time.
As an official nonprofit organization, we support people in navigating the inner work of trust and belonging, while also offering practical resources, tools, and partnerships to address external realities such as the housing crisis and ecological sustainability.
We help move ideas into grounded, concrete co-living and community-building projects.
Timeline
2020
Seed: Lykkå began from a moment of overwhelm during the early pandemic… and a honest call for help email sent to a group of friends.
Action: An invitation to share childcare, meals, support, and maybe even homes.
From that email, a small vetted private Facebook group was created.
Impact: What started as “am I crazy?” quickly became: “Oh… we all need this.” Conversations turned into connection and action. And the first spark of Lykkå was born,
2023
Seed: The question became: how do we actually live well together — not just connect?
Action: We introduced “Lunch-ins” for real talk and trust-building, and with the support of the Wener foundation we piloted ways to help people name their needs, and ask for support in community.
We launched our first co-living workshop and a one-year co-living pilot in collaboratin with Ralia Connections. Began working with Concordia students on systems change, and collaborated with other community organizations.
Impact: We gained deep insight into people’s needs and fears around shared living, and developed an onboarding approach to support it.
We facilitated a group of 7 people living together for a full yearturning ideas into lived experience.
2021
Seed: It became clear that parents needed support, kids needed connection, and families were overwhelmed.
Action: We created outdoor camps in local parks, and matched families into small safe groups. We offered Kung-Fu & community in the park.
We also hosted weekly support circles with a family therapist.
Impact: The Facebook group grew, and we interviewed 120+ families confirming the overall challenges we were all facing. Kids could play. Parents could work. We all felt less alone.
2024
Seed: The focus shifted to growing our capacity — expanding, learning, and beginning to share leadership.
Action: We strengthened our ability to facilitate inclusive, participatory conversations where every voice can shape decisions, while deepening our understanding of affordable, community-based housing.
We expanded across Montreal, created the Lykkå card deck — a guided journey of questions to help people explore connection, needs, and compatibility for living together — and organicly grew to 500+ members.
Impact: The community became more resilient and capable of holding itself.
A shift began from founder-led… to a more sustainable, community-driven model.
2022
Seed: A shared desire emerged: not just support… but building real, everyday community together.
Action: We launched sign-ups to match families and individuals for connection, home-sharing, and co-living.
We joined Concordia’s social impact incubator (Balsam) and hosted regular gatherings putlucks, park meetups, outings and “ask & give” sessions.
Impact: The community deepened.
People began moving from ideas into real connections, shared spaces, and early community living exploration.
2025
Seed: To grow and last, Lykkå needed a stronger foundation.
Action: A strong group of volunteers formally established Lykkå Cohabitat as a nonprofit organization (OBNL). We clarified our structure, and began building the foundations for long-term sustainability, shared leadership, and partnerships.
We launched monthly co-living “speed-dates,” offered workshops and resources on different community living models, and began collaborating with organizations like Tamarack and Good Neighbour Builders.
Impact: The community continued to grow, with more people sharing homes, spaces, and opportunities.
Lykkå reached 670+ members and became part of a broader network supporting belonging and community-led change.
It moved from an organic initiative to a recognized organization with the potential to grow and create lasting impact, beyond the founder alone.
What We Do
Lykkå Cohabitation is a nonprofit organization supporting co-living and community-building journeys.
We work at the intersection of:
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trust, belonging, and group culture
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shared housing, affordability, and home-sharing
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eco-responsible, resource-sharing ways of living
We support both the human and structural work required to live well together.
Our Mission
At Lykkå Cohabitation, we believe the challenges of loneliness, burnout, unaffordable housing, and ecological stress share a common root, disconnection.
So we help people reconnect with: ourselves, with others, and with place and planet
Through inclusive, sustainable, community-based living models and opportunities grounded in belonging, care and wellbeing.
Our Values
At the heart of this work is the desire to build something meaningful with people, not for them, at them, or at their expense in any way.
The kind of community living we are cultivating is rooted in a sense of being in it together. We value connectedness over perfection, and we believe that difference in backgrounds, family structures, cultures, abilities, and ways of being is not what makes living together hard, but what makes it richer. This shows up through neighbours supporting neighbours, people stepping into leadership on their own streets and in homes shared with others, and authentic relationships forming at a human scale.
This is cultural work, not transactional work.
It asks for trust, care, and a willingness to show up with vulnerability, openness, and responsibility toward one another.
Meet the humans behind Lykkå
Lykkå is built through relationships, people coming together around a shared desire to live safer, more connected, supported, and meaningful lives. Here are some of the humans helping shape and grow this work.
President - Board Member
Thomas Marin
Thomas is a sustainable development consultant supporting organizations in implementing environmental strategies and eco-friendly practices.
He has been involved for several years in citizen-led projects focused on socio-ecological transition, including initiating the Oasis Coliving project in Montreal, an affordable, ecological, and community-based housing model.
As a newcomer to Canada, he practices home sharing and is committed to building shared living communities rooted in mutual support, ecological transition, and resilience.
Founder and Vise President - Board Member
Trine Veiss Mikkelsen
Trine is a life long community builder and social entrepreneur working at the intersection of co-living, community-led innovation and family health.
Her work brings together facilitation, coaching, and program development, informed by a background in the arts, women’s health, and relational practices, to explore how people can live well together, including the deeper needs and fears that shape our desire for community.
She draws on her Danish roots and the danish co-husing model, her experience as a newcomer to Canada with no extended family around, a parent and her own practice of home sharing over the past 17 years to make shared living something people can experience in everyday life.
Secretary - Board Member
Nicole Rigillo
Nicole is a writer, anthropologist, and community advocate whose work explores how new ways of organizing and collaborating can address social challenges.
She writes The Modern Village on Substack.
Her work is informed by research in governance, civic participation, and social responsibility, bringing a thoughtful and grounded perspective to Lykkå.
As a single mother and daughter of immigrants, she is committed to building communities that foster belonging, mutual care, and support.
Board Member
Kass Wener
Kass Wener is a community leader, builder, educator, and Chinese medicine practitioner dedicated to creating spaces of belonging, connection, and collective care.
As a long term member and part of Lykkå's early visioning and develupment, she has been part of the deeper conversations, gatherings, and relationship-building that helped shape the vision and evolution of Lykkå over many years.
Her work is rooted in the belief that bringing people together to share their strengths, vulnerabilities, and lived experiences can be a powerful source of healing while helping create stronger systems of support grounded in community, relationship, and place. As a single mother and long term community builder she brings a deeply relational understanding of the importance of mutual support.
Kass has played an important role in supporting Lykkå’s growth through strategic connections, community partnerships, and early explorations around co-housing and collective living possibilities.
For more than 25 years, she has worked with patients in private practice, developing integrative approaches to healing and whole-person wellbeing.
Through her work with the Jewish General Hospital, Défi Canderel, MADA Community Center, and Mile End Chavurah, Kass has remained deeply committed to community engagement, patient advocacy, food security, innovative cancer research, and building compassionate systems of care and connection.
Co-Founder and Treasurer - Board Member
Jean-Michel Pollak
Jean-Michel Pollak is a proud dad, social entrepreneur, strategic communicator, and community builder who has helped shape Lykkå Village alongside Trine Veiss Mikkelsen since its earliest beginnings. His work is rooted in creating more connected, thoughtful, and human ways of living.
Alongside helping guide Lykkå’s vision and growth, Jean-Michel has played a central role in project management, fundraising, partnerships, and helping shape sustainable business models that support community-centered impact.
Over the past 27 years, he has operated and led multiple businesses and social impact initiatives grounded in creativity, communication, and human connection.
With a background in communications, entrepreneurship, facilitation, and social impact work, he brings a relational and systems-oriented approach to community building.
He has home-shared and lived in collaborative family living environments with his for much of his adult life, bringing lived experience to Lykkå’s vision of mutual support, belonging, and shared daily life.
In addition to his work with Lykkå, Jean-Michel currently works as a supervisor within Canada’s 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline, supporting responders and contributing to compassionate mental health and crisis care.
Orginizational Develupment, Research and Communications
Liv Amado McGowa
Liv had a degree in Human Relations and Organizational Development & Change at Concordia University with a strong interest in community systems, education, organizational culture, and social impact.
She supports Lykkå through research, communications, visual storytelling, and community engagement, bringing curiosity, warmth, and a thoughtful systems perspective to the work.
With experience in facilitation, survey design, branding, website support, and cross-cultural communication, Liv is especially passionate about how learning, storytelling, and relationship-building can strengthen communities and help people feel more connected and supported.
As part of Lykkå’s growing village, she contributes both creatively and collaboratively while continuing to explore how communities and organizations can grow with care, intention, and belonging.
Lykkå's extended village
Like villages themselves, roles within Lykkå continue to evolve over time. Some people serve on the board, others support through projects, gatherings, mentorship, and community care.
Community activist and former Board member
Mélissa A. Simard
Mélissa has contributed deeply to Lykkå’s growth through her expertise in community building, onboarding design, funding support, and relational gathering practices.
As an educational technologist, she helped shape parts of Lykkå’s onboarding and member journey experience, bringing thoughtful attention to how people enter community, feel welcomed, and find their place within the village.
She is the founder of the award-winning food tour company Round Table Tours and has been building community through food and gatherings for over 20 years.
She is also co-host of The Taste of Music on CKUT and supports women in food businesses to confidently pitch for funding and investment.
Trained in professional cooking, educational technology, and doula work, Mélissa brings both practical knowledge and deep care into everything she does.
She is committed to housing advocacy and neighbour-to-neighbour solidarity and lives the realities of community support as a solo mother.
While transitioning off the board, she continues to be part of the extended Lykkå village.
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Former Treasurer and Board Member
Amy Barrington
Amy has contributed to Lykkå through her deep commitment to community organizing, ecological living, local food systems, and neighbour-to-neighbour care.
With a background spanning community advocacy, urban agriculture, event coordination, and small business support, she brings a hands-on understanding of how resilient communities are built from the ground up.
She studied Community, Public Policy and Public Affairs at Concordia University, where she was involved in sustainability initiatives, local food projects, and community organizing.
Her work has included coordinating educational and food autonomy programs, supporting local markets and outreach initiatives, and helping connect people through shared projects and gathering spaces.
Amy has lived and experienced eco-village and community-oriented ways of life firsthand, bringing lived insight into collaborative living, mutual support, and collective responsibility. She is a parent and spouce.
While transitioning off the board, she continues to be part of the extended Lykkå village.