Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Let's recycle old houses

[Stuart Staniford-Chen (stanifor]

Joani writes:

> periperhery (second floor). My thought was that it would be neat to
> search out dilapidated and abandoned Victorians from all over
> Oakland, move them to the site and put them immediately adjacent to 
> each other, with some even attached. The front porches would face 
> in of course and since they would have to be totally new inside,
> the kitchens could be right in front in true cohousing spirit. Many 
> of these small houses--there are literally hundreds of them around 
> here--are already two units with the smaller, secondary unit on
> the ground floor. and the main door up 11 or 12 stairs.

> (Oaklanders, whadya think? Katie said it wouldn't necessarily be
> cheap even if we could get the land and the old houses for almost 
> nothing from the city, but said she couldn't quickly think of a way 
> to get the houses lifted up onto the second level--just a tad
> higher than yer typical foundation, right?

There is a group called Solar Community Housing Association in  
Davis that is working on a development like this.  They have a bunch  
of money from HUD for doing the project as low-income housing (this  
is not cohousing - minimal resident input - though it is somewhat  
cohousing inspired).  Once it became known that they were taking old  
houses, they got offers from all over the place.  I gather that  
whether it is worth taking an old house depends critically on where  
it is (eg how many power lines have to be taken down and put back up  
to move it from A to B).

I don't have contact information for them with me here at work, but  
I could find it later if anyone is interested.

Stuart
N St Cohousing.