Cohousing-L Mailing List: Creating a New Category of Renter

[Rod Lambert (rod]

Perhaps organizations such as Mutual Housing Association could provide a 
helpful perspective if not a model for affordability and security of 
tenure? People get virtually permanent rentals even apparently to the 
point of passing it on to heirs.

http://housingforall.org/mutual housing.htm

(To stretch this thread a little to include affordability for owners:)
Of course, organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and even the USDA 
have interesting sweat equity models, parts of which might be adaptable 
to CoHo.
Here at EcoVillage at Ithaca, we encouraged sweat equity and custom 
design in the second neighborhood (SoNG) with very positive results 
including 2 straw bale homes. (An approach especially useful for people 
who have at least one dream home in them that just has to come out!) 
Several units were able to qualify for HUD grants of ~20K which further 
aided affordability.
Unfortunately, most affordability efforts are one-time-only initiatives 
in that they don't get passed on to subsequent buyers. I think, as 
someone mentioned, unless at least some prices are permanently tied to 
local median income statistics somehow, permanently affordable cohousing 
communities are hard to sustain.

Rod Lambert

"Design Scapes"
Whole Community Design and Development - providing consulting for 
affordable, low eco-footprint communities
EcoVillage at Ithaca, NY.

> Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 20:39:53 -0700
> From: Zev Paiss<zpaiss [at] comcast.net>
> Subject: [C-L]_ Creating a New Category of Renter
> To:cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Message-ID:<4C2B363C-C5FD-4FFA-98B4-12EB67F436D3 [at] comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> Friends,
>
> Much of the discussion in this forum has surrounded the challenging
> interaction between renters and owners in a renter cohousing model. I
> propose that we offer up a totally new category I will call "Permanent
> or Long-Term Renter." There are millions of Baby Boomers who have had
> their savings, 401K's and IRA's evaporate over the past several years
> (myself included) and may no longer expect or want to have a mortgage
> as they move into their later years. What they (we) do want is
> stability and the security that we will not be kicked out of our homes
> because someone else has control over the property.
>
> I suggest we investigate the possibility of creating 5-20 year rental
> agreements so those people living in home they do not own, are still
> able to have the long term security of homeowners.  This kind of
> arrangement would open up cohousing and cohousing-like communities to
> many people who can no longer qualify for a mortgages or for whatever
> reason, do not want to own.
>
> Zev Paiss
> Nomad Cohousing
> Boulder, CO