Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: low income/diversity inclusion

[Mmariner (Mmariner]

In an earlier round of this topic, I expressed a variation of Buzz Burrell's
-- that our society's current direction of de facto income and cultural
segregation and class polarization must change.  The government can no longer
provide for those who get left behind by our uhhhhh p-r-o-g-r-e-s-s.   Put
your ear to the ground - what do you hear?  I hear an  ominous sound....

So.  If your group hasn't yet bought a suburban plot, or, has bought but
hasn't covered the site with $200+K units, how about mutating the cohousing
paradigm a bit:

-  If you've bought land but not yet built, design the units so that several
units are shared by two or more of your core group households (designed to
maintain privacy and conveniences).  Use the money you saved to help low(er)
income folks likewise share a unit.  Have a couple-three units that are
available for diversity and/or lower income so it isn't a single "misfit"
household.  

-  If you haven't bought land, buy something closer into the core city. Don't
choose a "war zone" neighborhood, but find one where there is already some
diversity.  Apartment building?  Old storefront?  Shopping Center?
 Warehouse?  Build in what you want/need, then spend energy building
community with your neighbors, integrate yourself with the diversity around
you.

-  Don't like core cities?  If several of you have the ability to be
telecomuters or writers, go look for a small town you can repopulate.  In the
west/midwest, there are some dead/dying small towns, some in pretty nice
places.  You might be able to buy/live so cheap, you won't all have to work.
 Your diversity can slowly incorporate the folks living there or near.

-  Lost for making contact with people from other incomes/subcultures?  How
about somebody at work?  How about somebody recently divorced or widowed?  A
single parent?  A teenage mom.  Elders.  Orphans.  


Besides avoiding building another rich folks' ghetto, the above ideas might
possibly be more ecological, avoid housing over more farmland and/or minimize
the amount of forest cut down to build your dwellings.

Hope the above doesn't seem to strident.  I was listening to some U2 music
and the altruistic blood just kind of rose up.  But seriously, at a minimum,
let's all at least consider living more simply.  It can be soul cleansing for
us, better for the rest of the planet.  What's that nugget? -- Live simply so
that others may simply live.

MikeM