Cohousing-L Mailing List: Newspaper articles about cohousing

[Cindy Murphy (vegetarianlibrarian]

Here is the text of the two articles that were posted
to the Akron Beacon Journal today:

(Article #1)
CREATING COMMUNITY CAN TAKE YEARS

Creating a cohousing community can take anywhere from
a few years to nearly a decade.
The process usually starts with a few households that
share a desire to live in a cooperative housing
arrangement. As the group members research what's
involved in creating a community, they often develop
an ability to work together, trust one another and
reach consensus -- a cornerstone of the cohousing
philosophy, said Kathryn McCamant, an architect and
developer of cohousing projects.
``The community starts to be created long before the
sticks start to go up on the site,'' she said.
Typically the cohousing group forms a partnership or
limited liability corporation to buy and develop the
land, said Joani Blank of the Cohousing Association of
the United States. Group members are asked to make an
investment toward the land purchase, usually about 6
percent or 7 percent of the expected cost of the home.
Some groups work with development companies, which
join in the partnership and streamline the development
process.
The partnership buys the land on which the
neighborhood is built, but each household buys its own
home. Usually the communities are set up as
condominiums, Blank said, so each household owns the
inside of its unit and an undivided share of the
common property.
Most cohousing groups never make it as far as a land
purchase, however. Thomas Ruddick of Dayton Cohousing,
a group that has been unable to recruit enough members
to create a community, attributed that to the lack of
a tradition of that kind of living arrangement in the
United States and the difficulty of coordinating large
groups of people to make major investments.

Mary Beth Breckenridge
Posted on Sat, Jan. 15, 2005
Akron Beacon Journal

(Article #2)

WHERE TO FIND COHOUSING HELP

Here are some additional resources on cohousing:
? The Cohousing Association of the United States,
www.cohousing.org or 314-754-5828. The association's
Web site has a wealth of resources including an
overview of cohousing, contact information for
cohousing groups around the world, classified ads,
links to related businesses and organizations, and
information on events such as cohousing seminars and
tours.
? The CoHousing Co., www.cohousingco.com or
510-549-9980. The architecture and development
consulting firm was founded by American cohousing
pioneers Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett.
? Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing
Ourselves by McCamant and Durrett (Ten Speed Press).
The book offers an overview of the cohousing concept.
? The Cohousing Handbook by Chris and Kelly
ScottHanson (New Society Publishers). This guide to
starting a cohousing community was written by the
co-owners of Cohousing Resources L.L.C., a cohousing
development consulting firm.

Mary Beth Breckenridge
Posted on Sat, Jan. 15, 2005
Akron Beacon Journal



                
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