Re: Owning units in cohousing communities as tenants
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:55:41 -0800 (PST)

On Jan 11, 2008, at 10:35 AM, tom shea wrote:

Can a cohousing community be constructed and structured such that the purchase price for say a 2 or 3 bedroom home is under $200,000 while including some principles of green design?

Green materials still increase the cost of the initial investment though good design Is available to reduce costs as well -- orientation to the sun, for example, which will vary with the climate. Good insulation properly installed.

One community built houses with the second floor plumbed and wired but not finished so people had lower upfront costs and could finish the space themselves or when they could afford it. Another built small apartments that could be rented out for extra income.

For children, a good architect can design private spaces that don't qualify as a separate room. In some areas, taxes are based on number of rooms, not market value or square footage.

"Affordable" by most definitions (a technical term defined differently in different locations) usually means average market price, even 20% above average market price in some areas. That can be quite high if there is currently no affordable or low-income housing to bring down the average. So what most people mean is low income housing for those with below average homeowner incomes or fewer up front financial resources. Most cohousing communities need buyers who can afford to put $5-10,000 down and leave it there until the units are built. Many households can't do that.

Personally, I think the best way to get low income cohousing is to insist that all units be built to the same standard. In my experience, if people who can afford more expensive housing are included they will want more variations in design and features that will cost more. They will say they don't in the beginning but then reality sets in. I also think this mix must cause problems further down the line when they want more expensive standards applied across the board than other residents want or can afford.

Before the current downturn in housing prices my two bedroom unit had tripled in value in 7 years. We now have people moving into our community who paid much more for their units than some people who moved in 7 years ago, some of whom received government grants as first- time homeowners. This has brought up discussions about the quality of furniture in the commonhouse, the available facilities, renovations, the look of the bulletin boards, etc. Aesthetic differences as well as financial.

To do low income housing you also need to look at other resources -- those only available to build low income housing. This is simpler in most locations if the whole complex is low income housing. Although some of these programs would not allow you to pick and choose residents, this may be something you can manage artfully.

The primary costs of constructing housing is still determined by square footage. Building attached units rather than single lot houses is more economical. Smaller is obvious. In one community the one bedrooms that the bank didn't even want the community to build because there was "no market for them" were the first to be reserved.

We have single parents with one child living in one bedroom and a den -- 650 sq ft as I remember. In one case a mother and an adult son. So people do make do with what they can afford. I would also build a small commonhouse with 1-2 large rooms that can be subdivided and rejoined as necessary. No two story ceilings.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing,Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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