Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Affordability?

[Deborah Mensch (deborahmensch]

Catya's reply below reminds me that there are more ways to achieve
human-scale community than new-built cohousing. I've been reading the book,
Superbia!, by Dan Chiras and Dave Wann (the latter a member of Harmony
Village Cohousing in Golden, CO). They outline 31 steps that a suburban
community can take to become a closer-knit community a la cohousing,
changing first the relationships among the people (potlucks and common
meals, tool and skill exchanges, babysitting coops, etc.) and later the
landscape (taking down backyard fences, creating community gardens and
orchards, traffic-calming in the street or even eliminating it, buying or
building a house to use as a common house, and more). Many of the same steps
can be done in an apartment building or other urban environment. In their
example, doing the whole shebang might take 6 or 7 years, but hey, some
cohousing communities take that long from inception to move-in. And what the
steps essentially do is give a regular neighborhood the same kind of perks
as cohousing, but gradually, with less capital outlay, and with the people
already in your neighborhood (and those who move in with natural turnover).

The Superbia! approach can offer a cost savings compared to new-built
cohousing, assuming people can afford to live where they currently do,
because many of the changes advocated in Superbia! are free. Some cost money
up front, like some kinds of remodeling, but since people are working on
their own houses and the work can take place over time, sweat equity (and
mutual aid between neighbors with complementary skills) can play a big part.
And most of the changes, whether free or not, end up saving money over the
long haul, whether in utility bills (energy-efficiency retrofits and
additional trees), doctor bills (by creating a walkable community and
encouraging exercise and beneficial social supports), or entertainment
expenses (by creating more "there" there in the suburbs).

I'd recommend the book as an inspiring text for anyone interested in
creating more community among humans and more livable neighborhoods. And it
may have particular application to the question of affordable community.

-Deborah Mensch

Pleasant Hill Cohousing, Pleasant Hill, CA (my current community)

Tumblerock, Boulder area, CO (my forming community, where we're having our
first public event March 24 at Nomad Cohousing in Boulder, 3:30-5:30 p.m. --
contact me for more info at deborah [at] tumblerock.org or by replying to this
message)

On 3/15/07, Catya Belfer-Shevett <catya [at] homeport.org> wrote:
> > 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!