Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Looking for speakers for The Cohousing Institute

[Philip Dowds (rpdowds]

If I were trying to produce inexpensive but useful housing, I’d first look at 
multifamily construction (“apartment buildings”), rather than microscopic 
single family homes.  Even so, I’ll stick to what I said:

There is no reason to expect that a tiny home development organized along 
cohousing principles would be cheaper than an “ordinary” tiny home development. 
 In fact, if one must build a common house to be cohousing, then it seems like 
cohousing tiny homes could be *more* expensive than ordinary.

Which raises an interesting general question:  Under what circumstances is 
sharing a commons more or less expensive than not?  Are shared amenities really 
a cost-saver, or merely a luxury for the well-off?

------------------
Thanks, RPD
617.460.4549

On July 14, 2023 at 7:15:47 AM, Rita Boratav (ritaclareboratav [at] gmail.com) 
wrote:

I agree with you, Izzy. Not interested unless it’s a development that bakes
in socioeconomic diversity or in some way makes the homes affordable for
those with fewer dollars. Perhaps a tiny home community?

Rita

On Thu, Jul 13, 2023 at 7:33 AM Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:

> I will mention again: Cohousing is a social contract, not a type of
> construction. When you choose cohousing, you’re buying a particular
> lifestyle, not a special kind of building. There is no immediate reason to
> expect that a cohousing development will be significantly cheaper to
> accomplish than an “ordinary” housing development of similar size and
> quality. In developing a residential property, cohousing or otherwise,
> there are choices to make that can noticeably drive up or drive down the
> project cost. But at a national level, average housing costs are rising at
> a faster rate than average household incomes, and housing of all types
> seems increasingly "unaffordable”. Cohousing is neither a cause of, nor a
> cure for, our national housing crisis.
>
> ------------------
> Thanks, RPD
> 617.460.4549
>
> On July 13, 2023 at 7:11:11 AM, b farris via Cohousing-L (
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org) wrote:
>
> Hi, Lotus:
> I hope that you will address the issue of affordable co-housing. I have
> been unable to find any co-housing under $300,000.
>
> One group in VA started out with estimates of $250,000, upped it to over
> $300,000. And later the whole thing fell apart and they disbanded.
>
> Thanks,
> Izzy Gingell
>
> > On Jul 12, 2023, at 8:53 AM, Lotus Thomas <lotuscohous [at] gmail.com> 
> > wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > This is Lotus Thomas, Director of National Programs for CohoUS.
> >
> > I'm looking for speakers to join our Fall/Winter programming series with
> > The Cohousing Institute on the following topics:
> > - Policies and other strategies for successful resales
> > - Financing community (development and maintenance)
> > - Tips for the Moving In Phase
> > - Carsharing in Cohousing
> > - Cohousing Advocacy (local, state, national levels)
> >
> > Please get back to me THIS WEEK if you or someone you know might be a
> good
> > fit for any of these topics.
> >
> > Emailing me directly at lotuscohous [at] gmail.com is better that replying 
> > to
> > this thread here.
> >
> > thanks so much!
> >
> > To a more cooperative society!
> >
> > Best,
> > Lotus Thomas
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> >
> >
> >
>
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