Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: affordability/gatedness

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

In more than one post in this affordability thread, it was implied that 
being market-rate housing leads to being a "gated" community. Hardly 
follows. 

RoseWind Cohousing is market rate -- comparable to what a person would 
pay for a double lot in a similar neighborhood. But we sure don't hole up 
here.  Almost every member is significantly involved in local good causes 
and activities. We may not be adding greatly to the lower-income housing 
locally, but we find lots of other ways to express social responsibility. 

 A signed public pathway goes the length of our property, and this and 
our other paths are liberally used by local school kids, neighbors, 
bicyclists and exercise walkers. Our common house will be another 
resource we can share.  

We are far from gated, either physically or in our mind set.

As for RoseWind's housing, of our 24 units, there are three ways our 
project accomodates a range of incomes:
a) 2 houses are outright subsidized, getting built by Habitat for 
Humanity with a zero-interest mortgage on a materials-only cost. 
b) Several others are small simple homes which the owners could choose 
because we are a lot-development model, and people can build as simply as 
they wish. So besides the families Habitat is helping, we have among our 
owners two lower-income single moms, a single senior woman, and a single 
fellow on disability. 
c) We also have a number of houses with small rental apartments built in, 
and these renters add community members who are not able to buy houses. 
Current or recent renters include a  singing teacher, a violin maker, a 
young couple new in town, and a coffee barista.  

And the majority of our owners fit the description Rob offered: educated, 
middle aged, middle class, had a house before, including a number who are 
retired. 

Diverse in a number of ways, but as another group commented, no known 
Republicans to date. It was interesting to extend recruiting hospitality 
to a cheerful nuclear submarine captain who was going to be stationed at 
the region's Trident sub base. I told him we welcomed diversity, and 
could perhaps arrange the occasional carpool with those who were going to 
the base to protest! He smiled. Fate stationed him elsewhere. 

Lynn Nadeau
Port Townsend Washington
where seeing the newly-installed cabinets in the common-house youth room 
makes it so easy for me to envision it brimming with paints and games and 
dressups, offering fun for all ages.