Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Unaffordable Housing: What it costs to rent a 2 Br Apt [Was: Affordable...

[Lynne Markell (lmarkell]

Dear Fred,
Could you be more specific about the housing program that provided subsidies to 
your cohousing community?
Could you tell us the name of the program and who runs it - city, state, or 
federal government or other organization?
Were the subsidies to bring down the cost of an individual unit for ownership 
or rental?
Did households have qualify, based on income?

I would like to followup and get more details, as we do not have such a program 
in Canada. Our housing programs are for rental housing or non profit housing 
co-operatives. None of the cohousing projects have gotten any subsidies and so 
they are out of reach for modest and low income people.
Some of us are trying to change that, but we need examples of existing 
programmes to show politicians and bureaucrats.
Thanks in advance,
Lynne 

Lynne Markell, 
Lmarkell [at] rogers.com
(613) 842-5222



> On Jun 14, 2018, at 10:36 AM, Fred H Olson <fholson [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> The phrase "affordable housing" is problematic. It's meaning varies
> different things in different uses.  The "generic meaning" might be
> housing that people can afford but that might be 30% or income or
> 50% or... And in the US incomes vary tremendously.
> 
> "Affordable Housing" can also refer to a US program of subsidized housing
> as Dick refered to.
> 
> "Low Income housing" is subsidzed more.
> 
> Note that there is not enough subsidized housing in the US to meet the
> need so people must consider "market rate housing".
> 
> I changed the subject line to "Unaffordable" which I think only has the
> generic meaning that Sharon meant originally.
> 
> Rocky Corner Cohousing http://www.rockycorner.org that Dick referred to
> is unique in that it has a substantial number of subsidized units which
> is the main way housing can be made more affordable in the US.
> 
> With the aid of an affordable housing consultant, Rocky Corner got a
> $2.6 million grant to subsidize 13 of their 30 units to various levels:
> 
> 5 -  60% of area median income
> 4 -  80% of area median income
> 4 - 100% of area median income
> 
> Fred
> 
> --
> Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411  USA        (near north Mpls)
>     Email:        fholson at cohousing.org      612-588-9532
> My Link Pg: http://fholson.cohousing.org
> 
> 
> 
> The most important factor in incorporating affordable homes is that we hired
> a housing consultant who only does affordable projects. He had not been
> exposed to cohousing as a concept before we interviewed him, but he got it
> right away. Similarly, we had not been exposed to affordable housing as a