Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Low cost housing

[Brian Bartholomew (bb]

| 'I'm not investing $XXXK over YY years to live next to a Katrina
| cottage.'

> This is why I think low cost cohousing has to be built with the
> whole community as low cost housing because in the end it affects
> resale values to have a $350,000 house next to a $60,000 house, no
> matter how nice it is.

Why would a lower priced house affect resale values?  Oh.  One of
*them* moved in.  There goes the neighborhood.  Have you see the
organic gardening cohouser at the end of the block?  I heard they're
building a straw bale house.  Ewwww!!  Quick, call the sheriff to run
them off.  We don't want their kind here.

The goal of laws which ban low-cost housing is to prevent *them* from
moving in.  Zoning is a violation of civil rights, both in intent and
in practical effect.  The phrase "affects resale values" admits there
is prejudice in society.  We shouldn't enshrine prejudice in law.

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> Since most people who buy homes that expensive are also carrying
> huge mortgages. They can't afford a home that is worth less than the
> mortgage, even if the bank loans them money for it in the first place.

Everyone involved is an adult.  Homeowners are at liberty to buy a
loan with a high debt to income ratio, and they are free to lose their
equity if they can't make the payments.

                                                        Brian