Cohousing-L Mailing List: affordability

[Joelyn Malone (JKMalone]

If successful, this would let us rent units to ourselves at rents affordable to households earning as low as 30% to 80% of average area income. I believe this approach was used at Elderspirit? If anyone has had experience with this concept, I'd like to hear. 


At Montery Cohousing, we initially talked with a foundation about 
getting the kind of assistance you've mentioned, for some initial soft 
costs/feasibility stuff. We got turned down because we would be the 
beneficiaries. Their reasoning was that in a 501(c)(3), the purpose must 
be for a public good, and we were asking for something that would 
benefit our own members. So, you do have to set it up so that there's an 
arms-length transaction between the nonprofit and the cohousing group.
Now with Cohousing Advocates, we are working with non-profit affordable 
housing developers that are members of the Twin Cities Neighborhood 
Housing Services (NHS) Network, and Community Development Financial 
Institutions (see http://www.cdfi.org/whatare.asp). That way we don't 
have to set up our own non-profit. There's probably a similar 
organization in your area, and the state agency you are already working 
with should be able to put you in touch with them.