Re: Something Magical Happened at Takoma Village Last Night ...
From: Ann Zabaldo (zabaldoearthlink.net)
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 13:37:07 -0700 (PDT)
Katie –

I so totally agree with you!  Sometimes I think I should talk start every talk 
with "Hi my name is Ann and I have my own kitchen and bathroom.'

From what I understand of this process with the feds is that once they 
understood that Cohousing is just a mainstream form of housing things began to 
change for them.  I think that's the education that you and Raines and Alice 
did for the Cohousing movement. 

And kudos once again on that new Cohousing.org website!


Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 11, 2014, at 4:14 PM, Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] 
> cohousingpartners.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Nicely written Ann!
> 
> In reading it though, it reminded me how important it is that we cohousers
> maintain the 'Definition" of cohousing...that it is not a shared house,
> but separate homes with kitchens, etc.... This is not meant in anyway to
> be a judgement about being better...but it is important when dealing with
> agencies and regulations that they know there is a specific definition for
> cohousing. 
> 
> Katie 
> 
> -- 
> Kathryn McCamant, President, Architect
> CoHousing Partners, LLC
> 241 Commercial Street
> Nevada City, CA 95959
> T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
> www.cohousingpartners.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On 6/11/14 11:40 AM, "R Philip Dowds" <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Congratulations to all.  The investment merits of cohousing may be
>> inescapably obvious to us Š but sadly, as most of us know, getting the
>> feds to respond to the obvious is an enormous challenge.  But before we
>> go too far down the path of dissing the feds, let¹s not forget that there
>> is no more cautious and conservative creature on earth than an investment
>> capitalist.  Congratulations, again.
>> 
>> RPD
>> 
>>> On Jun 11, 2014, at 2:20 PM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Š at an event in a Washington, DC cohousing neighborhood, celebrating
>>> the culmination of a couple of years working on a campaign to benefit
>>> cohousing.
>>> 
>>> Cohousing Coach Raines Cohen, a Cohousing California regional organizer
>>> living at Berkeley Cohousing, dished out the ice cream and hot fudge to
>>> celebrate the end of a petition campaign to have HUD treat cohousing
>>> condominiums the same as all other condominiums for purposes of
>>> certifying a cohousing project for federally backed mortgage insurance.
>>> 
>>> Raines and Alice Green visited HUD offices yesterday (Tues. 6/10) to
>>> deliver the petition and express appreciation and support to the HUD
>>> officials who brought about the change, and learn about their process.
>>> They were joined at the meeting by Within Reach movie creator Amanda Kay
>>> and Golden Gate Cohousing's Sean Culman, and at the party by Alice's
>>> employers at salvage company Urban Ore, who donated airline miles so she
>>> could be there, along with members of Takoma Village and nearby Eastern
>>> Village cohousing.
>>> 
>>> The specific circumstance involved Raines¹ neighbor, Alice, who wanted
>>> to obtain a reverse mortgage so she could continue to stay in her home
>>> in Berkeley Cohousing. She was denied the approval because the regional
>>> field office for HUD declined to fully review her application because
>>> the staff did not understand that cohousing has privately owned, fully
>>> complete, self sufficient homes.
>>> 
>>> Through the petition, which gathered more than 11,500 signatures in 3.5
>>> months, plus a breakthrough in which HUD staff shared cohousing
>>> materials from the Coho/US national website with condo technical
>>> assistance providers, led to movement leader Katie McCamant visiting HUD
>>> and helping them see that we¹re not just condos ‹ we¹re the best condos
>>> around:  lower foreclosure rates, deeper reserves, more member
>>> participation, etc. All of this means lower risk for lenders and
>>> ultimately HUD as lender of last resort. (HUD is being super cautious
>>> since the recession started in 2008.)
>>> 
>>> Cohousing is the BEST investment a lending institution can make Š and
>>> it¹s UP TO US TO MAKE THE CASE.
>>> 
>>> What Raines, Alice, Katie and others did was to take the initial
>>> ³defeat² and turn it into an opportunity to educate policy makers about
>>> cohousing.  Rather than hiding our light under a bushel, we need to be
>>> showing financiers, government agencies, developers, et al what a good,
>>> solid investment they can have in cohousing.
>>> 
>>> ³Lots of people insisted this petition was futile,² said Raines.
>>> However, Raines and others kept on pushing doing it in a way that helped
>>> allies step up, prompting the change. At the celebration last night
>>> Raines said, ³It¹s important to know when NOT to listen to people who
>>> say Œit can¹t be done¹.²
>>> 
>>> Congratulations, Alice, Raines, Katie and CohoUS volunteers who made
>>> this milestone possible.
>>> 
>>> Want to know more about the campaign? Visit:
>>> 
>>> http://www.AgingInCommunity.com/help-alice/
>>> 
>>> Best --
>>> 
>>> Ann Zabaldo
>>> Takoma Village Cohousing
>>> Washington, DC
>>> Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
>>> Falls Church VA
>>> 703-688-2646
>>> 
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>> 
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