Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: defining the cohousing principle

[Fred H. Olson (fholson]

On Mon, 1 May 2000, Rob Sandelin floriferous [at] msn.com wrote:

> In my world
> view of this, Cohousing is different than most other kinds of Intentional
> Communities by the following criteria:
> 
> Commerical bank mortgages for final financing
> Financial criteria for membership (You have to qualify with a bank for a
> mortgage in order to be a member, or qualify with a housing agency)
> Market resalability of homes
> Market rate housing mostly
..

Curious. While it may be true in the US, it seems more of an artifact than
a defining difference.  It seems to me that cohousing in the US is
financed with mortgages because that is the way that financing is most
readily available.  If coop financing were more available it would be used
more. It may indeed influence who is attracted to / lives in cohousing,
but it would not be my first choice.  My brief rap on what cohousing is 
typically starts 'Cohousing is a form of cooperative housing...' even tho
technically (financial structure) most US cohousing communities are not
cooperatives.

Fred

--
Fred H. Olson  fholson [at] cohousing.org    Minneapolis,MN   55411
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