Affordable Housing, Lack of Scale, Not Building Costs
From: Crystal Farmer (crystalbyrdfarmergmail.com)
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:14:12 -0700 (PDT)
Charlotte Cohousing is actively trying to figure out how to keep costs low!
We have a senior group forming and the number one question is
affordability. Many of the people are not in a position to get a mortgage.

Charlotte is attracting lots of new companies (HB2 notwithstanding) and I
agree they would not want "common" housing due to organized labor concerns.
But the money has to come from somewhere! I'm learning that our market is
controlled by the developers and they are all seeking to make a profit. Our
seniors are certainly concerned about being priced out of cohousing.

Crystal Farmer
Charlotte Cohousing Community
www.cohousing-charlotte.com


>
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> To Jonathan's thoughts - my first thought on reading the Amazon
> example was that Amazon would emphatically not want to build
> intentional communities for their employees. The community they form
> might encourage them to try to unionize. Any form of housing
> established by large, for-profit companies would have to atomize the
> people who live there so they can't collectively bargain. This would
> seem to go for condo developers too, so their residents can't band
> together. So large for-profit corporations seem to be infertile ground
> for cohousing or community building.
>
> Your thought on scarcity, however, seems right on target. The number
> of burning souls is probably very low indeed. Is the 500 Communities
> program an attempt to get around the fact that burning souls are in
> limited supply? I think Katie has developed it.
>
> I know that in general I heard about cohousing in 2001 and rejected it
> as an idea. With the prices of housing being quoted to me, I didn't
> think I could ever afford it. It took my wife and one of our best
> friends seeing a flyer and dragging me to a meeting 11 years to pry my
> mind open again slightly. We are still very concerned that we will be
> priced out, though at this point I think we're just on the right side
> of that affordability line.
>
> John Richmond
> Richmond Cohousing (VA - not named after me!)
>
>
>

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