Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Why cohousing should not be mission driven to be affordable housing

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi all!

 W/out going into a lot right now -- we're 15 days from phase I closings
!)  -- and w/ out necessarily disagreeing w/ Rob I offer the following
information:

Takoma Village Cohousing, located in Washington, DC, in one of the highest
real estate markets in the country, has more than 80% of its 43 units
qualifying for below market financing at 6.8% and 7.4% .  This was made
possible through a bond program.

It is "developer driven."  Our developer will make a profit.

It is VERY GREEN!! (we are a PATH demonstration project for HUD and DOE.)

Not including site acquisition we have a 25 month timeline.

While our members are educated folks we are also people retired on
disability, special ed teachers, social workers, librarians, as well as some
association execs.  We definitely have no deep pockets among the membership!

Built in from the beginning, we have a range of housing prices to serve as
wide a group of people as possible:  $95,000 to $304,000 -- all sitting
comfortably together on a 1.43 acre parcel 1.5 blocks from the metro in a
nifty little neighborhood.  And all our cars have off-streeet parking.

I think it's very important in these discussions about affordability that we
distinguish "affordable housing" from "low income" housing.  They are
different.

Affordable housing is *meant* to provide housing to those earning 70% or
less of the median income of the area (that % may be different based on
where you live.)  Affordable housing is MEANT for folks w/ an income just
below middle-middle class.  The people in this bracket have gone to college
too.

Low income housing is something else and I have no experience w/ it.  I hope
those who do will add their knowledge.

I also think in this discussion of affordability that we subconsciously mix
in the diversity issue.  Here we are in a city w/ 65% non white population
and only 14% of Takoma Village are people of color.  Hoo boy.  This is one
I've wrangled and continue to wrangle w/.  I have clues but no solutions.

Last comments:  You CAN do "affordable" housing.  But it takes experience
and expertise.  Look for a developer of affordable housing who has multi
family housing experience.  And it can be green, too!

Ann Zabaldo

Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC. -- America's
Hometown!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob Sandelin" <floriferous [at] msn.com>
To: "Multiple recipients of list" <cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 10:13 AM
Subject: Why cohousing should not be mission driven to be affordable housing


> I disagree that it is, or should be, the mission of cohousing to provide
> affordable housing. Cohousing does provide a small amount of green and
> affordability and this is fine as is. No guilt accepted  or needed.
>
> There are tons of other kinds of Intentional Communities which provide
both
> green and affordable as their missions. Several in the NW  are looking for
> members and can accessed at www.ic.org/nica.
>
> Cohousing is not a public service. It is an intentional community form
> designed specifically to be attractive to the middle  and upper classes.
The
> basic tenants of cohousing are that is non-religious, private income, new
> development, homeownership based. These are what makes cohousing
attractive
> as a community type to the middle class, and also to the banks and other
> bureaucracies. To make cohousing affordable mission driven, in my opinion,
> would be such a huge burden that it would lead to the extinction of
> cohousing. The people that currently drive the development of it would
opt
> out and  cohousing development would stop.
>
> This is not to say that affordable  cohousing  should not exist. Its  just
> not likely to expand much beyond perhaps a token 5-10% of built homes.
>
> The middle class people that drive cohousing do so to meet their own needs
> and desires, not to accomplish a mission. And this is OK. Affordability
> mission centered community work is great stuff and there are lots of
> organizations that do that work better. But it is not what drives
cohousing
> developers. Cohousers are motivated to create a better life for
themselves.
> Period. Anything else is secondary to that.
>
> It is not an accident that the vast majority of cohousing is market rate
> housing. It is that way because that is what the vast  majority of
> cohousers seem to want it to be. They want their equity preserved if not
> accumulated. This is one of the very first questions potential cohousers
> ask, Can I sell my house?
>
> I would be delighted to see the Feds (or some  .com gazillionaire) create
a
> pool of money that cohousing groups could apply for affordability grants
so
> some percentage  of any  cohousing project could be  affordable. But until
> then, cohousing is a grassroots effort that is meeting the criteria of the
> banks quite nicely. And that is a miracle of itself.
>
>  Most existing cohousing has been created in the face of hostile banks,
> local governments, etc. And still these middle class firebrands persevered
> and built multi-family developments. Groups  of strangers volunteered
> hundreds of hours using cooperative processes, and put thousands of
dollars
> of personal money at risk, in order to have more community for themselves
> and their  children. That's not "progressive" it's RADICAL! And there are
> dozens of these places, and every year more and more come on line.
>
> Community building is great stuff. There are lots of niches for improving
> relationships between neighbors of all kinds and there is tons of work to
> do. So grab a  shovel and start planting those seeds. Cohousing is just
one
> of the packages the seeds come in. And if you expect  cohousing to change
> dramatically from its  current form, and become a mission centered
community
> form to provide affordable housing, well, I think you are likely to be
> disappointed.
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Northwest Intentional Communities Association
>
>
>