Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Limitation of number of renters question

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

Robin Marks <iggybird [at] gmail.com>
is the author of the message below.  It was posted by
Fred, the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org>
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As someone who is very interested in cohousing but is unable to purchase
because of down payment challenges, I second (or third) the notion that
allowing for renters will increase economic diversity (and therefore
age/racial/cultural diversity as well). I am an educator, a field that is
not well compensated and never will be. But this doesn't mean I don't want
to stay put in a community. The same is likely true for young families,
which some communities are finding difficult to recruit.

Perhaps there are ways to create an environment that favors long-term
renters?
- require that potential renters attend community meals and meetings before
moving in, just as some communities do with potential buyers. In other
words, make it clear to potential renters that they are considering joining
a participatory community.
- require owners to issue long-term leases. This may, in effect, remove
some financial incentive. Some would argue this is good, others would argue
it's not.
- offer rent-to-own options for units where the owner is open to selling in
the near future.

My guess is that there are complications with all of these ideas. But I
would also venture that the future of cohousing may need to incorporate
more renters as both interest in cohousing and the price of real estate
continues to climb.

robin

> Message: 4
> Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2018 13:04:20 -0800
> From: Reede Stockton <commercial [at] willriley.com>
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Limitation of number of renters question
> Message-ID:
>         <CA+0r4i3PRvnEp0iEiGf0Ko5mxPvnPsX8-uUMm=EARt0wsH6FNw@mail.gmail.
> com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
>
> Not sure I agree with that assessment.  One of the biggest impediments to
> purchase is the accumulation of wealth represented by a down payment.  That
> difficulty is not equitably distributed, so even the percentage of rental
> units alone is likely to increase diversity in my opinion.
>
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