Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Affordability -- House and lot costs

[mtracy (mtracy]

Rob Sandelin writes:
>The difference I see between cohousers and other types of communities 
>is that cohousers hire other people to do their building for them, 

>So in the search for Affordability maybe cohousing is not the right 
>place to be looking. It may be mutually exclusive to have a designed 
>and  built out by professionals 30 unit development be affordable to 
>less than middle class incomes.

Thank you, Rob, for the opportunity to discuss this issue.  Indeed, the 
Cohousing book (our locus classicus) is full of 30 unit developments built
out by professionals.  That is exactly what Claremont cohousing is planning 
to do.

So I need to find a new name, and perhaps a new mailing list, for the 
oxymoron I currently call <affordable cohousing>.  What would you call a 
group of 12 to 40 households who have gathered together to live in proximity 
and form a mutually supportive environment for themselves and their children? 
Ownership of each dwelling is private, and ownership of the extensive common 
facilities is shared, because this group enjoys sharing.  Some households 
have bought professionally designed and constructed homes.  Others, because 
of financial or environmental concerns, have designed and built their own. 
Perhaps they have helped each other build.  Perhaps they have had occasional 
frame-raising celebrations, like the barn-raisings of former times.  Perhaps 
they have shared houses during construction.

These owner builders have paid a fair share of the development costs. They 
are enthusiastic non-consumers, and thrive in environments where sharing 
reduces both the cost of living and consumer waste.  They might not be 
upper-middle class.  They might even choose to live at the so-called poverty 
level from fixed investments or occasional work.

Both groups live in harmony and celebrate their cultural (financial) 
diversity.

It's not a commune, since income is not shared.  It's not a cooperative, 
since dwellings are individually owned.  And it's not cohousing, by your 
definition, since not all units are professionally designed and built.  So 
what is it?

(Not a flame, just a question ;-)

--
Martin Tracy          mtracy [at] netcom.com          Los Angeles, CA