Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: accessory apartments in cohousing

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units in local planning parlance) are legal in 
our town, and 5 of our houses have them, including mine. One row of our 
housing in on a south-facing slope, so daylight basements are almost a 
given, and they make nice apartments. One of the ADUs is used mainly by 
visiting family members; of the 4 that are rented, three have tenants who 
participate in various ways. One tenant has been around here for years: 
he started as a live-in boyfriend, then moved and helped another family 
build their house, then rented my daughter's room while she was in 
boarding school, and now rents one of the ADUs. I honestly think he 
volunteered more on the common-house-building project than anyone else 
here, and almost all of us did work on it. When the two Habitat for 
Humanity houses were built here, he definitely volunteered more than any 
of the rest of us. 

ADU apartments have also seen use for caregivers, as in the case of an 
elderly woman who was terminally ill. 

In my house I have an apartment renter who is a musician. She has now had 
about 6 different RW members as voice students. Another renter at 
RoseWind is a former organic farmer who has offered us good advice and 
generous harvest sharing from his own inspiring garden patch. 

None of our renters has ever gotten "out of hand" in any way over the 
years, in terms of use of common facilities, and generally speaking they 
have either been nearly invisible, or have participated in some way. None 
has ever evinced any interest in participating in meetings or committee 
work, but they help with work parties, and join us socially.

Were it not for the generosity of my late father, I'd be in one of these 
renter spaces myself. As a matter of fact, I consider my ADU as a sort of 
insurance for me. If someday I'm a little old lady all alone, I can live 
in the apartment and rent out the upstairs big house for income, and 
still be in my community. 

Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our 
photo)
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