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

[Jerry McIntire (jerry.mcintire]

Stone's Throw Ecovillage is rural but doesn't have a transportation issue.
We are just outside the city limits of the largest city in the county (pop.
5,000). We can walk or bike anywhere because the city is less than 3 miles
from any corner to any corner. Not all rural sites are far from shopping,
work, and other amenities. And land here is under $4,000/acre.

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 Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 7:05 PM, William New <wnew [at] stillcreek.net> wrote:

>
>
> > On Wed, 27 Aug 2014 19:39:39 -0400, Sharon Villines <
> sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> wrote:
> >
> > a tiny house village posted a few weeks ago that was built for homeless
> people
>
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/21/tiny-houses-aim-help-homeless/14411661/
>
> http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/08/tiny_houses_as_affordable_hous.html
> http://kxan.com/2014/08/27/50346/
>
> I am aware of two of such tiny house “villages” in Portland (plus soon
> Eugene) and Austin, with a number of other US towns following their
> positive results.
>
> A recent economic analysis showed that the highest “cost" of a tiny house
> is the land (urban = expensive, rural = affordable) versus the transport
> cost incurred to get to shops, schools, jobs, medical care, etc.  The
> constructed cost of the tiny house itself (if built on flat-bed trailer
> wheels) is largely independent of the site, especially using solar
> electricity, composting toilets, propane cooking/heat. Urban sites allow
> bicycles and easy public transport; rural sites require a car or similar
> transportation.  The most cost effective alternative all-weather personal
> transportation will likely be the Elio:  www.eliomotors.com
>
> Truly low-cost tiny houses are feasible for rural co-housing groups who
> are largely self-sufficient:  retired, self-employed, work-from-home
> employment, etc — best examples being pensioners, authors/artists, software
> developers, Internet-based workers — who have gardens for their primary
> food supply, and UPS/FedEx service from Amazon/etc to deliver goods ordered
> online. Home-schooling also works extremely well with Internet access
> (satellite-based in rural areas).
>
> The biggest challenge in general are zoning issues along with utility
> permits, though off-the-grid self-sufficiency plus flat-bed trailer (read,
> state motor vehicle jurisdiction) obviates most of these obstacles in
> unincorprated non-municipal locales. The most practical approach is to find
> an older rural farm home (+ barn/sheds) to renovate as the commons house,
> then add tiny houses one by one as needed.  If worse comes to worse, one
> can simply roll away the tiny houses to another site, though if the
> co-housing cluster is invisible from a public road (typical zoning
> requirement) and invisible to neighbors (easy in wooded area), most
> municipal authorities are content to live and let live.
>
> Finding inexpensive older rural homes suitable for renovation/commons use,
> with ample acreage for gardens and woodlot, is fairly easy in moderate
> climates with minimal snow (Oregon, Northern California, Vermont, Arkansas,
> North Carolina, etc).  Tiny houses can be site-built, or manufactured
> elsewhere and transported to the property.  With sun and water, nearly any
> “invisible” site works well.
>
> Low-cost/affordibility is indeed a substantive challenge, especially
> in/near cities.  But small rural towns with ageing populations where
> youngsters have left for city bright lights are very hospitable to those
> looking for a sustainable lifestyle.
>
> === Bill
>
> ——
>
> William New MD
> StillCreek Commons
> Santa Cruz, CA
> 94062-0951
> wnew [at] stillcreek.net
>
>
>
>
>
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