Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Is in-house plumbing and electric a must?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Sep 4, 2014, at 9:57 AM, Philip Dowds <rphilipdowds [at] me.com> wrote:

> But cohousing — despite the inclusion of an occasional affordable unit — 
> serves “regular” households and families (and probably, quite often, of an 
> upper-middle class demographic).  There is no reason to expect cohousing to 
> be “cheaper” than “regular” housing.

What people are interested in is expanding the socio-economic requirements 
outside the middle class. The "affordable" units are still too expensive for 
many households. Market rate is impossible. People need low income cohousing.

Before the developers were interested in building cohousing, it was impossible 
for groups to upfront finance even a few affordable homes, and still impossible 
to afford to build rental units. Now I think it is becoming more possible. Even 
HUD is interested.

One of my thoughts on the Tiny Houses is that people might try some other form 
of zoning, like the woman who built a boat house in the middle of a field. 
Opportunity Village looks exactly like all the little cottage vacation places 
I've seen in the midwest and upper NYState. A central building with showers, 
etc., surrounded by small cottages the size of a typical bedroom that barely 
holds two double beds.

Many of the "hand-made" houses of the 1970s didn't have plumbing or 
electricity. In temperate climates they didn't have HVAC systems.  One large 
house near Woodstock NY had many hand-made houses on a hill behind the main 
house. There are no requirements for "out buildings" in farm areas.

The requirement for electricity seems unreasonable if people choose to live 
without it. 

Banks won't give mortgages on these because they are worried about resale 
value. And they might not lend money on a house costing so little in any event. 
A friend who built a geodesic dome in the 1980s had to borrow _more_ money than 
she needed because the bank minimum on house mortgages was twice her cost. She 
borrowed the money, built the house, bought a car, and paid the rest back.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Sociocracy: A Deeper Democracy
http://www.sociocracy.info