Re: Outcomes
From: Thomas Lofft (tloffthotmail.com)
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:54:20 -0700 (PDT)
Let's get real, David,

 

Let me see if I get your drift?

 

You're asking if someone will put aside a month of professional time and 
compile the data and create a spreadsheet for you of 20+ data points about 115 
communities so you can what?  Shop for a grandiose optimized 'best' community 
to go move in to?

 

My expectation of cohousing is that if someone really wants or needs something, 
they make their own best efforts to be part of the solution.

 

Perhaps if you created the spreadsheet or database, and input all the 
information that's already on the national website, and then went to the 
Fellowship for Intentional Communities website and entered all the data that's 
posted there for the same or additional communities, and then circulated it 
directly to the info@______ on each community webmail, you might get some 
responsive feedback updated input from each community, in return for which you 
might promise to make a final copy available for permanent posting and updating 
on the national website. 

 

And if you can't find the perfect community that meets your expectation of 
maximum amenities for minimum price, perhaps it's time to invest your own 
capital in planning and constructing the community that meets your own required 
outcomes.

 

Believe me, I highly doubt that lack of a compiled database has ever stopped 
anyone from living in community if they were truly seeking a communitarian 
arrangement, which is every bit as much, or more, about contributing effort as 
it is about receiving benefits.

 

Tom Lofft

Liberty Village, MD



Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:16:16 -0400
From: David Hornick <dhornick [at] nycap.rr.com>
Subject: [C-L]_ Outcomes
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Message-ID: <C6808FC0.17F21%dhornick [at] nycap.rr.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
 
I'm looking for information regarding cohousing in the United States. The
following list is extensive, but by no means exhaustive. Perhaps other
listserve members could add to the list.
 
Specifically, I'd like to see a listing of cohousing communities (in a
spreadsheet if possible) that provides the following information:
 
1. Name of community, location, website, contact info and number of homes
and total size of property at startup
2. Target group by age, ethnicity, philosophy
3. Size of units: average and range
4. Cost of units with breakdown of cost of land, architect fees, cost per
square foot to build
5. Yearly taxes
6 Length of community's lifetime
7. Cost appreciation / depreciation of units since inception
8. Turnover rate per year per home
9. Demography - children under 13, teenagers, adults under age 65 and over
age 65 and over age 85
10. Use of alternative energy
11. Creation / use of community garden
12. Common house size, cost (per homeowner and overall), utilization and
specific components / functions implemented at start and continued or
discontinued
13. Special characteristics of community
14. Outcomes: expected, unexpected, hoped for, realized, unrealized
15. Percentage of community's children who seek higher education
16. History of community with aging-in-place of older members
17. Policies regarding functional / cognitive decline / emotional health.
18 Policies and experiences regarding mutual self-help
19. Means of marketing of the community at time of development and
subsequently.
20. Use of universal design principles to help assure compatibility of the
homes over the lifespan of the resident.
 
I wonder if lack of easy access to this information discourages
participation in cohousing. While I agree that the economy plays an
enormous role, it's not helpful to assume that it is the only factor at work
here.
 
If a prospective owner had answers to these (an other) questions, perhaps
there would be less reservation about committing funds to become an
associate of full member of a cohousing community.



Thanks for writing.

Tom



_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits. 
http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Storage_062009

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.