Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Socioeconomic Diversity in Cohousing

[S. Kashdan (s_kashdan]

Here at Jackson Place Cohousing in Seattle, now fourteen years into living 
on site, we didn't consciously aim at having socio-economic diversity. Given 
all the work of putting together our project, it seemed too complicated for 
anyone to try to qualify under the laws of Washington State for having 
affordable units. However, over the years, it has developed that we have 
residents with diverse incomes. There are some quite well-off homeowners, 
some who are less so, some living on limited retirement incomes, and a few 
who were only able to buy their places because they were helped with private 
loans from others when we were first moving in. We also have some people who 
rent rooms in the homes of owners, and a few who rent entire apartments. 
Some of the renters are earning decent incomes, and some are living on 
limited incomes. Renters do not have any say in financing issues, although 
they can be as fully involved in other kinds of decisions as they want to 
be.

There is generally a cooperative spirit among all residents. But, sometimes 
owners who are well-off and owners who are less so may differ on how to fund 
new projects, such as getting solar panels for our common house. However, 
differences over how to finance projects also occur between people with 
different ideas about how to manage funds, even if they have similar 
economic resources.

All my best,
Sylvie

Sylvie Kashdan
Community Outreach Liaison
Jackson Place Cohousing
800 Hiawatha Place South
Seattle, WA 98144
www.seattlecohousing.org
info [at] jacksonplacecohousing.org