Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Are We Done with the Rental Issue?

[Diane (dianeclaire]

Oh no. I meant to send that just to Jerome.

Sorry,

diane

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Fred H Olson <fholson [at] cohousing.org> 
wrote:

>
> Grace Kim <grace [at] schemataworkshop.com>
> is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
> Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
> after deleting quoted digest and restoring subject line.
> --------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
>
> Philip-
> To your point, in the urban areas people. Don't think living in apts
> is second class to sgl family homes. In fact, I am involved with a
> small forming community in downtown seattle. We've not advertised at
> all and people are finding us (2-3 new visitors monthly) because they
> are interested in urban flats/apts. Daybreak cohousing is also an
> example of very urban/dense but with lots of common area - doesn't
> look/feel inferior to sgl family. And sgl family homes can be rented
> as at Ravenna Commons in seattle, when they are existing homes.
>
> I think there needs to be a paradigm shift in cohousing, not only in
> rental vs ownership, but also new construction vs existing bldgs.
>
> grace h. kim
> schemata workshop
> (sent via mobile messaging)
>
> ---- Original message ----
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:39:28 -0500
> From: R Philip Dowds rpdowds [at] comcast.net
>
> I think the cohousing future is just as robust (or not) as the future of
> housing generally. Having previously said that there is no particular
> reason for cohousing to be cheaper than ?regular? housing, I will modify
> that dogma a bit:
>
> Multifamily housing ? starting with ?townhouses? or ?row houses?, and
> progressing to ?apartment buildings? ? has a significant competitive cost
> edge on single family housing. On a per square foot basis, it?s cheaper to
> develop, cheaper to operate, pays lower taxes, and so on. But Americans
> don?t want to live in ?apartment buildings?, they want to live single
> family, in the burbs. And indeed, some cohousing developments look and feel
> very suburban ? by the intent of the founders, of course.
>
> But the cohousing philosophy of live-closer-and-share-more is highly
> conducive to a multi-family construction solution. If cohousing has a
> unique and enduring role to play in affordability, it might be that of
> further de-stigmatizing multi-family configurations, such that (a) more
> zoning ordinances would allow for it, and (b) more middle class households
> would find it acceptable: a step up, not a step back.
>
> Philip Dowds AIA
> Cornerstone Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
>                      y
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-- 
Diane Margolis
175 Richdale Av.
Cambridge, MA 02140
617 354 1349