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

[R Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

Sharon —

You imply that our lives are expensive because we want so much — and in 
general, there has to be some truth to this.  A life where one wants nothing 
and needs little can be very economical.

But rather than strip away all the special features, durable materials, quality 
lighting* and other niceties of the residential construction, let me suggest 
there is a very different way cohousing can be affordable.  There is a way for 
us all to get most of what we want and need at a lower cash price.  It’s 
sharing, of course.

Or more specifically, time-sharing.  As isolated single family units, we all 
trend toward surrounding ourselves with uniquely and independently owned stuff 
that makes our lives work.  This in turn leads to big houses, big garages, and 
big yards with redundant opportunities that in fact sit idle most of the time.

But in cohousing, we can and do time-share.  E.g., the guest bedrooms let us 
cut at least one “spare” room out of our personal dwelling.  The arts and 
crafts room relieves us of the burden of a personal finished basement.  The 
common dining room means we can do birthday parties without owning and paying 
for our own “family room” or sunroom or enormous living/dining room, which, 98% 
of the time, is really bigger than we need.

Of course, there is a price to be paid for this.  We must learn how to 
cooperate with our neighbors, and occasionally compromise on things like 
scheduling or noise.  Some people adapt to collaboration and coordination, 
others don’t do so well (and tend to stick to their single family homes).

But once we’ve gotten good at sharing, we can go further.  For instance, we can 
cut Internet connection costs (and also increase speed) by sharing a commercial 
service.  Or, we can share cars.  In suburban life, there’s a car for every 
driver, even though most of those cars sit at home a lot of the time.  Just in 
case.  In cohousing, 30 units could probably do quite well with 20 cars total.  
AND, most of those cars could be SmartCars, with the several SUVs reserved for 
those very few occasions where one is really hauling a large group or big load, 
rather than just picking up groceries.  Most households would save thousands of 
dollars a year in a communal car-sharing scheme — more than the cost of 
occasional vehicle rental, if such were ever necessary.

I would assert that the 20- to 40-unit coho is ideal for advanced sharing:  
Large enough for meaningful economies of scale and diversity in time demands, 
but small enough to build the trust and cooperation necessary for a sharing 
system to work.  So if our goal is to make cohousing affordable, I’d advocate 
that we learn more about how to play the sharing card.

Thanks,
R Philip Dowds
175 Harvey Street, Unit 5
Cambridge, MA 02140

land:     617.354.6094
mobile: 617.460.4549
email:   rpdowds [at] comcast.net <mailto:rpdowds [at] comcast.net>

 * I like recessed lighting ...

> On Sep 5, 2015, at 10:37 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
>> 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
> 
> 
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