RE: defining the cohousing principle
From: Rob Sandelin (floriferousmsn.com)
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 14:15:54 -0600 (MDT)
This question begs the question: What is cohousing and how is it
differentiated from other kinds of Intentional Communities? In my world
view of this, Cohousing is different than most other kinds of Intentional
Communities by the following criteria:

Commerical bank mortgages for final financing
Financial criteria for membership (You have to qualify with a bank for a
mortgage in order to be a member, or qualify with a housing agency)
Market resalability of homes
Market rate housing mostly
Involvement with design professionals to produce a intentional design
Resident involvement in the design


These seem to be somewhat unique to cohousing. There are many other factors
which cohousing shares with other kinds of communities, for example:

Egalitarian decision making
Limited values requirements
Open membership
Community center (commonhouse)
Group meals
Shared resources
Private home ownership

So far in my explorations of Intentional Communities I find it is rare to
find a place that has commercial bank mortgagability, and this is often tied
to ownership and building code issues. Private home ownership and open
market resalability, while not unheard of, seems to be somewhat rare as
well. The capitalistic notion homes being investments where you can sell for
a profit, is not common in the IC world at least that I have seen thus far.

So in the final analysis, perhaps it is the mortgagibility and all that goes
with it that differentiates cohousing from other community forms? This seems
an odd notion, but home ownership is a key unstated reason why cohousing
seems to attract so many middle class professional folks to join in a
cooperative housing adventure. If you took that away I would hazard to guess
that few projects if any would currently exist becase the banks wouldn't
touch it in most places, and the appeal would be much less to the middle
classes.

One point to make of this, if you can't afford market rate cohousing, but
yearn for many of the community values and advantages, pick up a copy of the
communities directory and check out the other types of communities. There
are many hundreds, and some will be good places for you to explore living
cooperatively.

ROb Sandelin, On the road, currently in NE Texas.



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