Cohousing-L Mailing List: Affordable Housing

[Rod Lambert (rod]

I would not dismiss Brian's post too quickly. As Sharon V. and Kathryn M.
suggest there is "grist for the mill" here. As a cohousing designer/builder
it's one of my pet peeves.

Here at EcoVillage at Ithaca we can attest to the overkill that happens
when determining "safe enough" is left to inspection departments. We ended
up with a pumphouse that I'm told cost close to 500k!!

Being able to push back against arbitrary, costly decisions is essential to
affordability. Of course we are, in several ways, safer with the building
codes but they often go too far. IMO, The cost of bureaucrats trying to
wring the last few deaths out of the building system is long past the
application of  the law of diminishing returns. (I would bet if you put
bureaucrats in charge of mountain climbing they would insist on a handrail
all the way to the top of Mount Everest!)

And that same money (billions) if applied to making transport systems safer
could probably save far more lives - of the approx. 35,000 that die on our
highways every year.

E.O.R (end of rant)
Rod
EcoVillage at Ithaca