Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Building in rental capacity

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jan 12, 2008, at 2:26 AM, carrol crawford wrote:

> co-housing who seems to only accept buyers.

This issue comes up regularly so this is no criticism of the poster,  
but cohousing would accept renters if there were someone who was able  
to invest the money to build rental housing. Renters are dependent on  
investors and landlords, which obviously cohousers are not or there  
would be more rentals.

The people who build cohousing communities can't afford to build more  
than their own homes, and for many, that is a stretch. To expect them  
to build a house for someone else at the same time is unrealistic.

There is a concern about renters being more temporary or less  
committed to the community, but this could be addressed by more  
careful screening. With one exception, people who have leased whole  
units at Takoma Village have been involved in the community and were  
good neighbors. We have roommates who are less involved but they have  
also moved in with the expectation that this is just a bedroom.

So it isn't a function of cohousing that there are few rentals  
available. It's a function of the market and the lack of investors in  
the cohousing community who are able to build rentals.

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