Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Motivations and Realities

[Racheli Gai (jnpalme]

>From Racheli

Hi Howard.
I think the assumption is that high-income people
CAN join (and can upgrade their houses either as
part of the initial process, or once they move in),
while - unless special efforts are made - it's the ones
with sufficient financial resources who are kept out.

You could argue that cohousing as it exists doesn't have
enough amenities and such to attract the truly-rich (whatever that means:
we are all stinking rich compared to the vast
majority of world population), but then: how do you decide
when enough is enough?

Here are two observations from my experience:
What counts as "amenity", and what counts as a "basic
necessity" varies a lot, depending on where one grew
up.  As someone who grew up in Israel at a time when
barely anyone had a phone, or a car, or ...  I was amazed
by the kind of stuff people here seemed to "need" (when we
were doing the programming work)...

Another observation is that if a group has people who are
motivated, at least partially, by environmental concerns (and most
cohousing groups do include such individuals),
this would exert pressure to cut down on "amenities", since
part of an environmental consciousness (in many cases)
is the realization that the US uses an enormous chunk of the
planet resources at the expense of other people and the
ecosystem at large.

R.

>> "I am interested in creating integrated
>> communities that welcome a diverse
>> range of people including low income persons. This
>> requires including
>> affordable units in the mix of units in a project

>I wonder how people would have reacted if this had
>instead read:

>"I am interested in creating integrated
> communities that welcome a diverse range
> of people including high income persons.
> This requires including spacious units
> with many amenities in the mix of units
> in a project ..."

>I have seen dozens of posts which ask how to
>encourage low-income people to move into
>cohousing.  I don't think I have seen any at all
>asking about how to attract high-income people.
>I sense a form of reverse discrimination at
>work here.  Anyone care to give a rationale for
>this bias?

>       Howard A. Landman
>       River Rock Commons
>       Fort Collins CO
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-- 
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jnpalme [at] attglobal.net (Racheli Gai)
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