Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Renter Members (fwd)

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

Donna of N street wrote:

> I've observed a real bias in the cohousing
>movement towards owner-occupied units and I believe this is a real
>mistake.  For some reason someone got the idea that renters won't carry
>their load.  At N Street, this couldn't be further from the truth.

I would suspect that the reason rentals are not done is due to the high 
cost of built from scratch.  The average Cohousing Unit Cost in my 
area, with 4 projects with 8 or more units is around $150,000.  In 
order to pay the costs for these, assuming typical 10% downpayment, the 
monthly rent would be very large.  What seems to be the case is that 
folks house share by renting a room out.  In some cases, with unit size 
being so small, it is difficult to share a room with someone unless 
they have no posessions, or unless you are very tolerant of folks at 
close quarters.

Some of the units at Puget Ridge has basements which could be converted 
into living spaces and I know when I visited Nyland, there were a few 
folks living in basements, in some case, out of the economic nessessity 
of the owner.  So, having basements as a design option might be a good 
idea as it allows for rentals.

Rob Sandelin
Sharingwood