Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Rental Cohousing

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Sep 14, 2017, at 12:41 PM, Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] 
> cohousing-solutions.com> wrote:

> For the record, and I think I get some authority in this regard, cohousing is 
> not an ownership model by definition....its just how it has worked out 
> because, well someone has to own it and most apartment/rental owners are not 
> intersted in a well organized group of tenants.

And beyond a certain age renters usually do not like renting from a landlord 
that lives next door. The looking over the shoulder syndrome. 

I think  a rental building as cohousing would work with an owner who lives 
elsewhere and has a hands off relationship. The renters could act as an 
association that negotiates with the owner, and with each other. Perhaps even a 
rent to own situation. Mortgages are 20-30 years so rent to own cold be the 
same amount of time.

To repeat a story I've told before, a group of renters in NYC managed to buy 
and renovate their building with a combination of HUD grants, city grants, etc. 
The building had been broken up into 400 SF  apartments and mostly occupied by 
actors in the theater district but way over by the river when it was 
dilapidated. The city was happy to have a building there renovated and to get 
rid of a slumlord.

It wasn’t a great building by any means, but it was prewar and solid and close 
to the theater district. People ended up with apts 2-4 times larger than they 
had before at the same cost. It was a lot of work — calls to agencies, tracking 
paper work, getting affidavits from residents, etc. Researching grants and not 
taking no for answer.

Sharon
——
Sharon Villines, Washington, DC

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