Re: Something Magical Happened at Takoma Village Last Night ...
From: Kathryn McCamant (kmccamantcohousingpartners.com)
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 13:14:48 -0700 (PDT)
Nicely written Ann!

In reading it though, it reminded me how important it is that we cohousers
maintain the 'Definition" of cohousing...that it is not a shared house,
but separate homes with kitchens, etc.... This is not meant in anyway to
be a judgement about being better...but it is important when dealing with
agencies and regulations that they know there is a specific definition for
cohousing. 

Katie 

-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect
CoHousing Partners, LLC
241 Commercial Street
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousingpartners.com





On 6/11/14 11:40 AM, "R Philip Dowds" <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:

>
>Congratulations to all.  The investment merits of cohousing may be
>inescapably obvious to us ? but sadly, as most of us know, getting the
>feds to respond to the obvious is an enormous challenge.  But before we
>go too far down the path of dissing the feds, let¹s not forget that there
>is no more cautious and conservative creature on earth than an investment
>capitalist.  Congratulations, again.
>
>RPD
>
>On Jun 11, 2014, at 2:20 PM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> 
>> ? at an event in a Washington, DC cohousing neighborhood, celebrating
>>the culmination of a couple of years working on a campaign to benefit
>>cohousing.
>> 
>> Cohousing Coach Raines Cohen, a Cohousing California regional organizer
>>living at Berkeley Cohousing, dished out the ice cream and hot fudge to
>>celebrate the end of a petition campaign to have HUD treat cohousing
>>condominiums the same as all other condominiums for purposes of
>>certifying a cohousing project for federally backed mortgage insurance.
>> 
>> Raines and Alice Green visited HUD offices yesterday (Tues. 6/10) to
>>deliver the petition and express appreciation and support to the HUD
>>officials who brought about the change, and learn about their process.
>>They were joined at the meeting by Within Reach movie creator Amanda Kay
>>and Golden Gate Cohousing's Sean Culman, and at the party by Alice's
>>employers at salvage company Urban Ore, who donated airline miles so she
>>could be there, along with members of Takoma Village and nearby Eastern
>>Village cohousing.
>> 
>> The specific circumstance involved Raines¹ neighbor, Alice, who wanted
>>to obtain a reverse mortgage so she could continue to stay in her home
>>in Berkeley Cohousing. She was denied the approval because the regional
>>field office for HUD declined to fully review her application because
>>the staff did not understand that cohousing has privately owned, fully
>>complete, self sufficient homes.
>> 
>> Through the petition, which gathered more than 11,500 signatures in 3.5
>>months, plus a breakthrough in which HUD staff shared cohousing
>>materials from the Coho/US national website with condo technical
>>assistance providers, led to movement leader Katie McCamant visiting HUD
>>and helping them see that we¹re not just condos ? we¹re the best condos
>>around:  lower foreclosure rates, deeper reserves, more member
>>participation, etc. All of this means lower risk for lenders and
>>ultimately HUD as lender of last resort. (HUD is being super cautious
>>since the recession started in 2008.)
>> 
>> Cohousing is the BEST investment a lending institution can make ? and
>>it¹s UP TO US TO MAKE THE CASE.
>> 
>> What Raines, Alice, Katie and others did was to take the initial
>>³defeat² and turn it into an opportunity to educate policy makers about
>>cohousing.  Rather than hiding our light under a bushel, we need to be
>>showing financiers, government agencies, developers, et al what a good,
>>solid investment they can have in cohousing.
>> 
>> ³Lots of people insisted this petition was futile,² said Raines.
>>However, Raines and others kept on pushing doing it in a way that helped
>>allies step up, prompting the change. At the celebration last night
>>Raines said, ³It¹s important to know when NOT to listen to people who
>>say ?it can¹t be done¹.²
>> 
>> Congratulations, Alice, Raines, Katie and CohoUS volunteers who made
>>this milestone possible.
>> 
>> Want to know more about the campaign? Visit:
>> 
>> http://www.AgingInCommunity.com/help-alice/
>> 
>> Best --
>> 
>> Ann Zabaldo
>> Takoma Village Cohousing
>> Washington, DC
>> Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
>> Falls Church VA
>> 703-688-2646
>> 
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>> 
>
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