Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sharing Economy/Truly Capitalist

[Beverly Jones Redekop (beverly.jones.redekop]

We call it the quad...and it adds another level of complication to the
already intentional complexity of cohousing.

I love the people in the quad, and I am happy to have each of them as
neighbours, but I don't think it was a very good idea to build it.

The rent for the four suites in this one "quad" unit is the same or more
than rent would be for two 2-bedroom units, so there is no affordability
advantage. I don't think they like sharing a kitchen with so many people,
as many of them are adding kitchenette-type appliances to their private
sitting areas. It has been occupied since 2010, but the private backyard is
still in construction condition with no landscaping -- I think it’s harder
for residents to define their sense of personal stewardship in this
ambiguous space. It is just terribly rigid: our other homes can work
interchangeably for singles, couples, or families, but the quad is
trickier.

It would be better to have two flexible 2-bedroom units that are tweaked a
bit to be better for equal roommates: equal-sized bedrooms, perhaps with
separate bathrooms, and maybe two distinct pantries and coat closets.
Perhaps the living room could have old-fashioned pocket doors to allow it
to be two separate sitting areas as needed.

The two units could be situated beside each other to make a bit of a quad,
but they would retain the flexibility of being able to hold other household
types.

For the same rent that they pay in the quad, they could have 2:1 kitchen
ratios instead of a 4:1 kitchen ratio.

That being said, if someone out there is considering this model, I could
introduce you to residents who may see it more positively than I do.

Beverly
www.groundswellcohousing.ca
Yarrow, BC


On Wed, Oct 21, 2015, 11:15 AM Kathryn McCamant <
kmccamant [at] cohousing-solutions.com> wrote:

>
> Yarrow EcoVillage, in British Columbia, has a shared house with four
> suites (large bedroom and private bathroom), and shared kitchen living
> area. I hear it is working well and allows (mostly single) people of
> various ages to rent in the community. The key is having a couple
> community investors who are willing to own this unit.  I think in the
> current conservative lending environment, it would be very challenging to
> get loans for the “shares” of a unit like this. In theory, it could be
> owned as “tenants in common” but those tend to be messy when people want
> to sell their share. Perhaps better to keep it a rental for long term
> flexibility and to diversify who can participate in cohousing. From the
> plannng department point of view, it is reall just a large home with one
> kitchen. From a community point of view, you should probably plan for
> their being one car per resident in a shared home, unless you live in a
> truly urban environment where people really live car-free.
>
>
> Katie
> --
> Kathryn McCamant, President
> Nevada City Cohousing and
> CoHousing Solutions
> 241B Commercial Street
> Nevada City, CA 95959
> T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
> www.cohousing-solutions.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10/21/15, 10:55 AM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of Emilie Parker"
> <cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on
> behalf of emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >
> >On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 9:08 AM, Sharon Villines
> ><sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> As we have discussed before, if we want to have 20-somethings living in
> >> cohousing, we need to have rental units. And/or shared living
> >>arrangements
> >> where young singles can have a private room and bathroom and share other
> >> facilities.
> >
> >
> >​If you could get approval for a shared house in cohousing which is not
> >the
> >case in Boulder County right now, would you design it with a shared
> >kitchen
> >in addition to the common house kitchen?  Do any cohousing communities
> >have
> >the shared living arrangements you describe?
> >
> >
> >-----------------
> >Emilie Parker
> >emilie.v.parker [at] gmail.com
> >303-317-4558 main
> >240-350-8533 cell
> >My website: www.emilieparker.com
> >Artists Cohousing website: www.artistscohousing.com
> >Art Cohousing Meetup:  www.meetup.com/artists-housing-community
> >_________________________________________________________________
> >Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
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> >
> >
>
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