Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: The economic realities of Cohousing development

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

> In a small group discussion one member asked if we would be comfortable
> if a Republican wanted to join. There was silence.

A prospective member finished introducing herself by saying "Oh, yes, I'm a
Republican, I'm a member of the NRA, and I smoke cigars."

Everybody's eyes get big.  We've cheerfully noted that she's a medical
worker, Japanese-American, a single woman, grey-haired, and for a change
does NOT work at the university, but are we ready for quite *this* much
diversity?  Gulp.

She smiles. "Just kidding."

I said later, "Boy, did she have us pegged."

We are unrepresentative of the local population. In a city which is very
white,* very rightwing,+ and dominated by a single religion,# nobody here
has admitted to being Republican, only four (of 54) members are LDS, and
five of 25 households have at least one non-white or mixed-race member (9
of 54 members or 17%; Black-Puerto Rican, Japanese, White-Korean-Black,
Japanese-Hispanic (?), Cherokee-Hispanic-Cajun).

* The Wasatch Front (a 100-mile corridor that includes 75% of Utah's
population) is 87% white, 10% Hispanic.
+ Utah went about 75% for Dubya.  Last presidential election, Perot got
more votes than Clinton.
# Salt Lake County is 64% LDS, a.k.a. "Mormon," the state as a whole 75%
(for comparison, 1.9% nationally). People here say "the Church," as though
there's only one (true for practical purposes).

On the other hand, compared to most cohousing groups we're conservative. 
When I commented on this recently, one of our earliest members pointed out
that we would never have gotten off the ground in this city if we hadn't
been.  As it is, the local council member regards us with suspicion, for
advocating things like neighborhood playgrounds and mixed-use zoning.

I agree with Rob.  Affordability is a nice goal for a cohousing community
to have, but it is not a sine qua non.  There are other values also worth
pursuing.  For instance, in-fill (urban) construction is frequently more
expensive than rural, because land and sometimes labor costs are higher;
you trade affordability for green space preservation, reduction of
automobile pollution, etc.

Interested parties may check the archive for my posts about our five
low-income units, financed through the Utah Housing Finance Agency:
March 13, 2000, Re: Mixed Income Cohousing Communities. 
March 14, 2000, Re: Mixec Income CoHousing

Kay Argyle
Wasatch Commons
Salt Lake