Cohousing-L Mailing List: Alternatives for creating inexpensive homes...

[Elizabeth Cobb (lizacobb]

Michelle,

Proviso:

Ever since I found out about the concept of co-housing (a curious series of
serendipitous "coincidences" in 2002), I have been mostly an observer on the
sidelines of this list serv, at first wildly excited, then cautious, then
... ?!

I don't like the idea of cohousing being just another way of privileged
Americans making sure to get "their" piece of the pie -- but in a way that
enables them to feel good about themselves (hence the ideal of community) --
while the vast majority in America (let alone the world) continue living
under-housed or unhoused, and unseen (so that the rest of us don't see the
fallacy in the "american dream,"  and don't need to feel guilty...  This
seeming to be the case, I don't want to become a part of a movement that de
facto puts me into the camp of the "haves," and separates me from the have
nots...

*******

That said, I want to believe that alternatives exist...  What if a
likeminded (but financially diverse) group of people decided to learn how to
build, by working to build houses for Habitats for Humanity, and then
managed to build their own houses?  What if mortgages didn't have to be a
necessity, and a screener?  What if the houses didn't have to be like the
oversized, conspicuously-consuming mansion-wannabes that are going up all
over Northern Virginia on postage-stamp-sized plots of land, with three-car
garages, and whirlpool baths, and everything that today's overachievers
can't seem to live without?  What if we built them ourselves, using the
latest green technology, side by side, building community even as we built
our community?

It sounds like a fairy tale, and furthermore from the mostly dead silence
when I occasionally put out a feeler onto the listserv, a fairy tale that
fails to resonate with many folks.  Still, I keep hoping, listening,
learning, waiting...  I have another three more years to live in another
country before deciding whether this fairy tale might have some basis in
reality.

What do you think?

Liza

> Message: 1
> From: "M.Studer" <mstuder [at] sssnet.com>
> To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_Maintaining affordability
> Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2003 13:20:25 -0500
> Reply-To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
>
>

> All,
>
> I like the alternatives to creating inexpensive homes suggested by Sharon
> here.  It seems more sustainable (in the sense that the home sustains its
> affordability throughout it's lifetime)  to me to actually make a home
> affordable by building it in a less expensive manner rather than
> artificially subsidizing affordability.  I would like to throw out the
> following  scenario for discussion/dissection to see what feedback I can
get
> on the feasibility of our group's thoughts:
>
> Our group, NEO-COHO (North East Ohio COHOusing), is in the forming stage.
> We have been tossing around this very idea of creating economic diversity
in
> the community by building various types of housing, rather than creating
> subsidies and artificially propping up folks to be able to live in the
same
> type of house as their wealthy neighbor.  From what I have been reading in
> the discussion on the list-serve, it seems that such artifical subsidies
do
> not last in the long term - is my take accurate on this?
> We are considering deviating from what seems to be the typical cohousing
> build model in some ways, such as utilizing some as yet undefined level of
> self-build and staging construction so that it is a continually evolving
> community, rather than a dropped in ready-made - everything is there at
the
> start.  We are targeting at having just enough of a critical mass of
> owners/investors  to be able to finance the land purchase, infrastructure,
> and personal homes of the initial investors but expanding farther down the
> road.  We are considering using an LLC structure.
> Based on what I have learned so far, it seems that it is important to have
> some level of infrastructure in place, such as a common house, so usage
> patterns are set before individual units are completed. However some
> thoughts on individual units were that we could initially self-build some
> small cottages/units using low-cost methods that we could stay in while we
> are building up our infrastructure and our 'dream' homes.  Once that is
> completed, the smaller units could be available to rent out or sell.  The
> idea being that since they would be smaller in size and built using
low-cost
> methods, they would be available to those who either might not be able to
> afford a larger home, or might not need one, such as singles, elderly,
young
> couples/first-time homebuyers.
> We would pre-plan the sight to eventually accomadate both single family
> homes and multiple family dwellings (townhouses, apartments, etc) of
various
> sizes.  Possibly either the LLC or a financially secure investor or group
of
> investors could finance building the additional units beyond the first
stage
> for resale / rent/ land contract.  This could occur at a gradual pace.  We
> would also work with individual potential investors/owners on building
their
> own homes.
> Of course, if we get lucky, we may be able to find a site that has some
> infrastructure / buildings/ houses/cabins in place already which would
give
> us a head start - a former campground or a farm would be nice.
>  We recognize this would be a slower process than the typical model.
> However for our group it seems to be more feasible in that we want to do
> with as much of our own financing as possible and keep it affordable, so
we
> are not struggling to pay this off the rest of our lives.  We are
projecting
> about 5 years before we make land aquisition in order to allow us to pay
off
> debt / save large sums of money to do this (although some are itching to
get
> under way, we have to face economic realities).
> Utilizing a slower "evolutionary" process and some level of self-build it
is
> expected than we can accomplish our goals to build a lasting community
> without killing ourselves financially in the process.
>  (Note: My husband both from rural homesteading familes, so we have had a
> good bit of exposure to the self-build process, and others in the group
have
> done some self-build to a lesser extent and have some idea what we are
> getting into)
>
> However this way does take lots of patient and will take  aggressive
saving,
> careful planning, judicious bargain-hunting, and lots of sweat equity!
>
> Are there any other groups out thee who have experience with any of these
> methods?
>
> Other Thoughts?  Comments?
>

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