Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Welcome to Wendy Wiesner, PFAC Executive Director

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Sep 4, 2015, at 9:23 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> Affordable cohousing struggles within the larger context of affordable 
> housing generally.  For decades now, average American household incomes have 
> not been keeping up with escalation in construction costs and real estate 
> prices — so almost all housing, for almost everyone, is increasingly 
> unaffordable.  And, there is nothing magical about the cohousing model that 
> can deliver housing at prices significantly below market respective to 
> comparable “regular” housing.

I agree with all  your points, Philip, but would add that what cohousing began 
as was a cooperative lifestyle designed for the needs of a group of people who 
worked to build it or to convert existing buildings for it. Housing becomes 
more and more expensive because people want more and more. 

Are these things really necessary:

Multiple bathrooms
Expensive fixtures and dishwashers
A bedroom and/or office for every adult
SF beyond the minimum
Granite counter-tops
Recessed lighting
Cable TV, digital connections, etc, in every room
Laundry rooms in each home
Dining rooms

How much is necessary in the common house? A great room and a sun-heated dining 
room. A big closet for tools and lawnmowers. Perhaps another sun-heated space 
for children to run around and a pingpong table. 

Can you design minimal so things can be added later?

SF is said to be the least expensive part of housing but you still have to heat 
and cool it. And it is tempting to fill it with more stuff.

A story I’m repeating from the discussion a few years ago on low income 
cohousing: 

A woman in DC wanted to have low income cohousing so she could have enough room 
to adopt a child. She lived with a roommate in a rent-controlled apartment. She 
worked but at a low government wage. But when she began to publicize her 
interest it attracted middle class people who wanted a minimum of three 
bedrooms with a dining room or den, basement, etc. A condo to brag about even 
if it is in one of "those places."

This was totally the opposite of what the woman started the group for and she 
felt they had not only edged her out but had taken over her project. They were 
totally sincere when they said they would accommodate her needs, too, but she 
could see that they didn’t understand low income housing or her needs. In 
addition to marker rate housing, they were committed to social ideals when she 
still needed a place to live as an adult and as an adult with a child. On the 
hierarchy of needs they were in totally different places.

But she also did not have the skills to negotiate the bureaucracy of subsidized 
housing or organizations like Habitat for Humanity. That’s what she needed help 
with — not to be concerned a broom closet in every kitchen or a formula for the 
racial mix of the community.

The low income end of cohousing has begun to get attention, at least on the 
west coast, but it needs more. It needs strategies like the ones that have 
emerged on how to deal with developers.

I found this when researching this post: Tiny Cohousing in Portland called 
Simply Home Cohousing. Includes nice pictures and a video

http://www.treehugger.com/tiny-houses/simply-home-tiny-cohousing-community-portland.html

Includes links to several other articles.

But again, these are mostly out in the sticks where zoning allows them. And you 
have to have a car, which can double the cost of the house on a long term basis.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Sociocracy: A Deeper Democracy
http://www.sociocracy.info