Re: affordability
From: Jeffrey O. Hobson (johobsonwheel.dcn.davis.ca.us)
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 95 01:51 CST
Dan, I'd be very very *very* (can i put another emphasis on - oh yes, VERY)
interested in the results of your research.  

N STREET AFFORDABILITY:
Yolo County monthly median incomes are, per size of household:
Size      Median
1         $2484/mo
2         $2842
3         $3208
4         $3550
5         $3834

To my knowledge, renting a 3 or 4-bedroom house is about $750-950/month.  By
your definition (25% of 80% of median), that means renting is just barely
"affordable" for a 5-person family.  The reason N Street has the impression
of being middle/low income is that a few houses are rented by several
"households".  For instance, my house holds 4 people, in 3 separate
"households".  About half the N Street houses have unrelated adults in them.

I don't know about mortgage payments.  If any N Streeters on the list would
like to email me with the amount of their mortgage payments, I'd be happy to
report a range to the list.

SCHA COHOUSING PROJECT
There is another quasi-cohousing community possibly coming about in Davis,
being developed by a nonprofit organization in town, intended mostly for
low-income single parents.  It is not a resident-determined design, more of
a resident-input design, so doesn't quite match the cohousing definition in
the front of the journal.  But, if you're interested, contact

Luke Watkins
Homestead Project Manager
Solar Community Housing Association
2745 Portage Bay East
Davis CA 95616

RESPONSE TO DAN SUCHMAN COMMENTS:
Dan wrote:
I suspect that the most of the existing affordable cohousing in the US has been
creating by one of the following methods:  (1) government coerced subsidy by the
developer (e.g., requiring the developer to build a certain amount of affordable
housing as a condition to building other market rate units),  (2) direct or
indirect subsidy by the wealthier residents of the community (such as having the
community as a whole own a few rental units), or (3) rental units made available
(usually at a financial loss) by absentee owners.  
N Street has both #2 and #3, although the "wealthier residents" who own
several units and rent them out are not particularly wealthy, just somewhat
generous.

As to #3, I do not believe that any of N Street's absentee landlords are
taking a financial loss by renting to members of a cohousing community.  In
fact, I believe they may be benefitting from the community, because they
have basically guaranteed occupancy.

Glad to see this discussion popping up again.

Peace,

Jeffrey Hobson
johobson [at] wheel.dcn.davis.ca.us

N Street Cohousing - that organic retrofit place
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