Cohousing-L Mailing List: Regarding Affordability in Cohousing

[Angela Steiert (angie.steiert]

I think it is safe to say that unless a community has subsidized a unit or
gotten section 8 housing approval, that most co-housing communities prices
put their members in a higher income bracket.  $230,000 & $250,000 is a lot
of money.  Someone would have to make at least $75,000 a year to pay that
mortgage and less than 15% of American's make that much money.  Therefore
only the top 15% of American's  are able to participate in a cohousing
community at those prices, which makes it a somewhat elitist entity.  I
live in a cohousing community and I did not pay that much money, but I was
quite shocked to see the majority of prices for communities when I was
hoping to join one. I am a teacher, and I find it quite sad to think that
most teacher's, unless they have two incomes in their homes, could not live
in a cohousing community.  There is really no easy answer to this, as I
have come to realize that most cohousing communities are private entities,
and that cohousing is in limited quantity in the US which makes it more
valuable. I do think we have to acknowledge the reality of cohousing in
America.  So, there are places out there with more reasonable prices, but
even those are probably too high for many Americans at the wages they
currently make.