Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Steve Welzer's Challenge to the cohousing 'system'

[Neil Planchon (neil]

<Steve Katz katzcrawford [at] gmail.com <mailto:katzcrawford [at] gmail.com>> 
is the author of the message below. It was posted by Neil from the Cohousing-L 
management team :: cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org 
<http://cohousing.org/>. Neil

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Last year, after hearing him speak at an affordable housing seminar here in 
Lexington, I pitched cohousing to one of the premier developers of affordable 
projects in Kentucky and West Virginia, Johan Graham of AU Associates 
<https://www.auassociates.com/meet-our-team>.  I had previously approached the 
city’s Director of Aging and Disability Services and learned that a 
semi-governmental group “Reimagining Home 
<https://www.agefriendlylexington.org/post/reimagining-home-1>” had explored 
cohousing as one of several aging-in-place options.  That group would write a 
white paper about the prospects for affordable cohousing in Lexington last 
summer.
 
Johan shocked me shortly after our meeting when he said that he wanted to built 
the first all-affordable rentals senior cohousing development in the country 
right here in Lexington.  What I didn’t know was that he had been pursuing an 
annual award from the Kentucky Housing Corporation for an “innovative project” 
and thought that cohousing might fit that bill.  He applied for the funding in 
the fall and, unfortunately, at the end of January we learned that a competing 
project got the award 
<https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=3829d29f9e95f6aa657f1c290&id=711760317e>.  
Johan hasn’t yet figured out if alternative funding can still make it happen.
 
To qualify for various funding from the local affordable housing trust fund, 
HUD, and other agencies, of course there are income restrictions.  Johan told 
me that his “sweet spot” is 60% AMI.  My personal strong belief is that the 
advantages of cohousing are even more valuable for those with limited income; 
and that society at large benefits more from providing them with this option 
than wealthier people.
 
Part of my initial pitch to Johan was that some of his existing local projects 
weren’t so very much different architecturally from what a cohousing 
development would need, with common spaces, etc.  Most weren’t sized right, but 
a couple of them were.
 
I am now thinking of ways to perhaps “convert” existing developments to 
something resembling cohousing by proposing a new emphasis on building 
community among residents.  It may involve adopting other aging-in-place 
strategies, such as “the village concept <https://www.vtvnetwork.org/>.”
 
Steve Katz
Lexington, KY
(859) 410-5755
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