Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: COHOUSING-L digest 484

[Cohomag (Cohomag]

Russell Mawby asked for information about the Pacifica project and Habitat
for Humanity.  The key person to talk to is Bill Dempsey, founder and
currently a director of the Habitat affiliate in the San Francisco Peninsula
area; Peninsula Habitat can be reached at 415-324-2266.  I talked to Bill a
couple days ago and I know he'll be out of town till May 17th.  He is quite
knowledgeable about cohousing and has been a great source of information for
me about affordable housing strategies in general (he recently retired as
asst. director of housing & community development for the county of San
Mateo). I also know that he has discussed the cohousing concept with
top-level Habitat people in Americus, Georgia (912) 924-6935.  
Of course Habitat is primarily known for rehabbing detached single family
homes -- not very cutting edge in that respect -- but they sure know how to
do sweat equity projects with community participation.  Also, I think they
are changing with the times.  The March/April issue of Solar Today features
an article about Jordan Commons in Dade County, Florida, a planned 200-home
model community that "integrates the principles of social and environmental
sustainability into an affordable community for low income residents."
 Designed with the pro-bono help of internationally known "neotraditional"
architect Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, the project is supposed to include
features reminiscent of cohousing, including "pedestrian-friendly streets",
"visual access to streets" from homes, open space and a 10,000 square foot
recreation center.  However, I don't know if it involves resident input into
the design process, and I doubt that they'll be serving dinners in the
recreation center.  Then again, why not?  The project is sponsored by
Homestead Habitat for Humanity; Dorothy Adair, President; 305-247-0847.
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Don Lindemann, Cohousing Journal
cohomag [at] aol.com