Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Communities with a low-cost/affordability focus?

[Dane Laverty (danelaverty]

Jerry, that sounds beautiful. How is the project coming? I struggle with
the idea of relocating. I'm pretty deeply rooted in California, but I
recognize that if my goal is affordable community, California might not be
the right place.

Dane


On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 9:03 PM, Jerry McIntire <jerry.mcintire [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> Dane, we have a rural project which is not built yet. We do have land.
> Homes will be affordable intrinsically and by subsidy for some units.
>
> Lots will vary in price ($35,000 - 50,000), this will be the big cost but
> it will bring many common facilities: community kitchen and DR, guest
> rooms, laundry, child playroom and playground, perhaps office space,
> workshop, gardens, fruit and nut trees, chicken club, carports, greywater
> system.
>
> A house with a shared well and composting toilet can be quite low cost here
> (septic systems are costly). We have no zoning (just outside the city
> limits), so there is no minimum size for occupancy. The state building code
> applies (Wisconsin) but that isn't costly to meet.
>
> We are partnering with the Partnership for Affordable Cohousing (PFAC) and
> a local housing agency (Coulee Cap) to build owner-occupied and rental
> affordable units: perhaps six of our fifteen homes.
>
> Jobs? Pay is not high here but nearly everyone has a job, so they're
> available. Organic Valley, the largest organic farmers cooperative, is
> headquartered here as are three organic certifying businesses and Fifth
> Season growers co-op, Maple Valley organic maple syrup co-op;  S&S Cycles
> (motorcycle parts), and everything associated with the county seat:
> Courthouse, hospital, etc.
>
> Bottom line: A new (one bedroom) home in a cohousing community for less
> than $100,000 is possible, and that's affordable by most definitions.
>
> Jerry
>
> --
> Jerry McIntire
> Stone's Throw Ecovillage, in the heart of Wisconsin's beautiful Driftless
> region
> http://stonesthrowcommunity.wordpress.com/
> 1-608-637-8018
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 6:39 PM, Dane Laverty <danelaverty [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >
> > Yeah, I want to find a low-cost housing solution that relies on intrinsic
> > cost reduction rather than other people's generosity.
> >
> > I like the idea of getting a tiny house (<400 sq. ft.) and living simply
> > and cheaply. However, a lot of home ownership costs are due to
> permitting,
> > land, taxes, and infrastructure development. This means that reducing
> > construction costs only has a small impact on the overall cost of home
> > ownership.
> >
> > I hope these aren't intractable problems. In searching for "tiny house
> > cohousing" I found the Napoleon Complex
> > <
> >
> http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/napoleon-complex-community-tiny-house-movement.html
> > >.
> > This is a project that is using RV park zoning laws to create a low-cost
> > cohousing community. I don't see any recent updates on the project, so
> I'm
> > not sure if it's still active.
> >
> > Dane
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 3:24 PM, Catya Belfer <catya [at] pobox.com> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > From where I sit, the biggest question about affordable cohousing is
> who
> > > foots the bill.  Rented from a non-profit is great, but you need the
> > > non-profit, or SOMEONE with deep pockets, to subsidize.
> > >
> > >      - cat
> > >
> > > Catya Belfer   -  www.catya.org
> > > Technical Director   -   www.cohousing.org
> > > Cohousing in MA - www.mosaic-commons.org
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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