Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Affordability?

[Catya Belfer-Shevett (catya]

> Are there any cohousing communities that are really affordable?  Not cohousing communities 
> that have some sort of small "affordable" subsidized housing, but genuinely created 
> by those of us that are middle income?  I have followed a number of cohousing-L member links 
> back to their websites and have become increasingly worried about the costliness of these 
> ventures.  I have found some units for sale that approach $700,000.  My group consists of 
> several families - a half million dollar home is completely out of the question, as is 
> $200,000 for an undeveloped lot.  And, honestly, I just don't get it.  Shouldn't scale help 
> here?  Am I being naïve?

In addition to what others have said...

There's not a lot of new construction that's affordable.  Mainstream 
folks with less in the way of income will often rent a place. 
Intentional Community folks with less in the way of income have a bunch 
of non-cohousing options (sharing a large house being perhaps the most 
common?)

Even where I live (outside of Boston), one can find an older or more run 
down house to rent or to buy for less money than what new construction 
costs.  There's not any equivalently older or more rundown cohousing.

"How to make new construction affordable" is a hard question.

        - catya
                            ____
Catya Belfer-Shevett    ____\  /     Cohousing in MA?
catya [at] cohousing.org     \  / \/   www.mosaic-commons.org
www.catya.org            \/          Ready Fall 2008!