Re: low/mixed income cohousing
From: Judy (BAXTER%EPIHUBVX.CIS.UMN.EDU)
Date: Wed, 10 May 95 13:56 CDT
Date: Wed, 10 May 1995 (Lynne Farnum) wrote:

<<In our local cohousing scene, there are many interested people who I would
consider low-income: retirees; recent graduates with huge loans to pay off;
single parents with modest incomes and  high child care costs; social service
workers whose jobs are  fulfilling but pay very little.   If we could build
some units  they could afford, they would not only join but would be among  the
most committed members.  (Often the very same ideals that  make someone
attracted to coho also lead to employment choices  that don't yield big bucks.)

On the other hand, it is unlikely that a predominantly white,  coho community,
going to attract poor minority families from the inner city. There are a number
of reasons, but the overwhelming one would be that no one is eager to share
huge financial and emotional risks with people they feel nothing in common
with.  Why should they?  
>>

Lynne, you speak my mind.  We do, in fact, have 4-5 such low income people
living in our community, in the condo homes in the rehabbed building - in
small, studio-type dwellings.  We were able to do this by buying as a coop and
thus varying the downpayment required to what people could afford, having
financing for part of the 30% down payment from non-resident members for whom
we were buying the land and commonspace, and being willing to live more closely
together than some would ideally have wished (varying degrees of comfort).  ANd
all were very very committed to cohousing. ANd we do get a lot of interest from
folks who can't afford the new townhouses (and there's not much we can do.  We
haven't got any energy leftover to pursue subsidies). We hope to break ground
on 7 of the final 15 in the next couple of months (and where have I heard that
before?)


Judy Baxter, Monterey Cohousing Community, (MoCoCo)
Twin Cities Area, Minneapolis/St.Paul Minnesota
e-mail: baxter [at] epivax.epi.umn.edu

other mail:     2925 Monterey Ave So,  St. Louis Park, MN 55416
Twin Cities CoHousing Network Voice Mail  612-930-7580
 Voice Mail for Monterey Cohousing - 612-930-7554

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