Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Affordable co-housing?

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

There are some. We have certain units that are affordable. David Mandel can
correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we've worked out an arrangement with
the city that we can transfer the affordability loans to different people
now, and not just have it attached to a particular unit.

To do affordable housing requires motivated people who are willing to have
it take longer to build, and that has been lacking in the cohousing
movement, for some understandable reasons. It's pretty hard to get built
anyway, but this adds another level of difficulty. That said, it sure is a
hell of a lot easier to get it built now than it was ten years ago, and it
seems to me that more groups should take this on. I've ranted about this in
the past, so I'll try not to go on too long.

You can also do retrofit cohousing and people can rent or buy in as they
can. (See N ST Coho in Davis, CA) Another way is for the group itself to
subsidize it, and I think that one may have succeeded in this, but my memory
is fuzzy on that.

We are also an urban cohousing, to answer someone else's question on whether
we exist or not. There are several in the Bay Area, and around the country.
And I think that's far more conducive to affordability, given suburban fears
and restrictions on such things, and rural lack of money to do it at all.

I did go to the website to see if one could tell from the listings whether a
community is urban, rural, whatever, and I couldn't. Perhaps that is
something that could be added. Michael?


-- 
Liz Stevenson
Southside Park Cohousing
Sacramento, California
tamgoddess [at] attbi.com


> From: "April Adams" <kala.chandra [at] verizon.net>
> Reply-To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 14:18:31 -0400
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_Affordable co-housing?
> 
> I'd really be interested in that.  My boyfriend, daughter and I would love
> to be able to participate -- and would have a lot to offer a co-housing
> community, however, bad circumstances have left us without much savings and
> me with poor credit.  Please let me know what you find out about low-income
> co-housing.
> 
> April Adams
> Plymouth, MA
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <jle7001 [at] att.net>
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 11:16 AM
> Subject: [C-L]_Affordable co-housing?
> 
> 
>> Hello co-housing listers - i'm sure this thread exists somewhere (and feel
> free
>> to send me to the thread if it exists)but i wanted to get your thoughts on
>> building *affordable* co-housing. That is, are there examples out there of
> co-
>> housing communities where some of the units are built to be *affordable*
> or
>> even accessible to low-income people while other units are built along
> more
>> traditional lines (economically)? We are a community in the development
> phase
>> and trying to figure out how to make the community accessible to a range
> of
>> incomes. It seems as I look at the literature (and talk with folks) that
> really
>> co-housing is accessible to traditional middle-class folks who can go get
> a 150-
>> 200,000$ mortgage. All the members of our group cannot do that, and we
> would
>> like to create a mixed-income/class community. What are other groups
>> experiences with this? All input welcome! thanks, jennifer
>> 
>> --
>> Be the change you wish to see
>> in others. (Ghandi)
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> 
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