Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: A strategy for affordability

[Marganne Meyer (marganne]

Thank you for the great info on CLTs. A subset of this mailing list 
and the main mailing list for the Small House Society came together a 
few years back and created the Low Cost Community Housing email list. 
You can subscribe to the Google group here:
http://groups.google.com/group/low-cost-community-housing

Along with the 'living simple' notion comes considering exactly how 
much house you really need. In general, small houses are considered 
to be less than 1,000 square feet. Some of the very small size are 
built on wheels meant to tow behind a car or truck.

I'm particularly interested in this concept because it might bring 
home ownership into my price range. I might even be able to build a 
small, extremely efficient, sustainable house without going in debt. 
Most of the people I've met on this list consider their home as a 
place to stay and become part of the community -- NOT as an 
investment. Also, it could be difficult to get a mortgage on a home 
that some see as having no resale value.

This isn't something that appeals to a portion of homebuyers or 
cohousing list participants. We've discussed this many times here. I 
always learn something new during these discussions. One thing I 
learned is that many cohousing members consider maintaining and 
increasing the value of their homes as very important. They see 
construction of smaller homes nearby as less than desirable and a 
possible problem because the smaller home might decrease the value of 
their homes. That plus they like having more space to live in. Also 
smaller homes are seen as rentals rather than 'real' homes which 
seems to be a negative factor.

Less square footage means it costs less. Less space to clean, lower 
taxes. I'd have more flexibility with how to spend my time and income 
because it wouldn't all be sunk into my home.

Many of the LCCH list subscribers come from various points of view, 
but all agree about the advantage of living a simpler, smaller life. 
Cohousing might be a good marriage with small homes. Many things that 
take up space in a 'normal' home would be located in a common house.

The cohousing board mentioned developing a model for lower-cost 
cohousing. I don't know how/if that plan is proceeding.

Oh...btw.. one of the biggest obstacles to developing small homes, 
especially in a community, is the lack of conducive zoning and 
building codes. Some counties restrict the minimum size to 1,200+ 
square feet, one home to a parcel. We discussed purchasing an 
existing trailer park where zoning might not be a problem. 
Unfortunately even small trailer parks have a very high price tag.

Cheers!
Marganne

At 5:06 PM -0700 5/16/10, David L. Mandel wrote:
> Using a CLT or any other limited equity (e.g. LE coop) model 
> requires disconnecting from the notion that housing, in addition to 
> providing a home, should also be treated as an investment necessary 
> for one's financial future or that of one's heirs. ... One of the 
> ways our ruling elite keeps us from rebelling is
>  by perpetuating the myth that anyone with the right combination of 
> luck and smarts can get rich. Sure, a few can, but the system is 
> built on exploitation of most of us and impoverishment of far too 
> many.
> David Mandel