Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Re: [C-L] Median or mode, Wealth & Poverty [was What is wealth?]

[Forbes Jan (jan.forbes]

Sharon

Thanks for clarifying.  I was thinking "outside the square".  It does not
take only money or wealth to provide housing.  What about organisations like
Habitat for Humanity where people get cheap loans and build their own houses
with volunteer help?  Could Habitat for Humanity be involved in building
affordable housing in cohousing communities, for example?

In post WW2 Tasmania many people who could not afford to buy a house lived
in shacks while they built their own with the help of friends and
neighbours.  I'm sure this happened elsewhere in Australia too.  One of the
older people I was interviewing who lived in one of these houses lamented
how these days no-one can build a house unless they have a lot of money
because friends and neighbours no longer help each other.  

There are a lot of owner built houses at Oeksamfundet Dyssekilde at Torup in
Denmark, although due to building regulations it took a supportive local
council (kommune) to achieve it.  Most of the houses are sound, functional
and environmentally sustainable.  They are also beautiful to look at due to
the diversity of materials and design, so different from the uniformity of
mass produced housing.  Pulling in to Dyssekilde station and looking across
at the picturesque straw bale and thatched roof houses was one of the most
memorable sights of my trip.  

Jan

-----Original Message-----
From: Sharon Villines [mailto:sharon [at] sharonvillines.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 8 April 2003 9:29 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Subject: [C-L]_Re: [C-L] Median or mode, Wealth & Poverty [was What is
wealth?]



On 4/07/2003 7:15 PM, "Forbes Jan" <jan.forbes [at] dhhs.tas.gov.au> wrote:

> You're citing just one definition of wealth.  There are many.

Of course, there are many definitions of everything. The question here has
been how do we determine if cohousing is or can ever be anything more than
an upper middle class phenomenon because new homes are so expensive.

Out of that came questions about what is "wealthy" and what is "poor" in
terms of income and ability to live in cohousing. Who makes those
determinations? What is affordable?

In that context -- building, converting and buying a cohousing  unit -- the
standard income and wealth estimates are the ones banks work with, not how
happy you are sitting under a tree.

I don¹t think we have found all the numbers we need in order to reach any
conclusions about cohousing but the numbers of renters living in cohousing
may be some indication that the communities themselves are not constituted
of only high income individuals or even people who are driven by the need to
have a high income. Other determinants of class -- education, etc. -- may
still justify the "upper middle class" epithet, but income may or may not.
As well as one's definition of "high" income.

(I changed the subject line back so we can track the discussion in context.)

Sharon
-- 
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org

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