Cohousing-L Mailing List: Strong Towns -- How a non-developer built a small community of homes

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

Bery nice story from Strong Towns today about a person who decided there was a 
need for just plain old houses in a small town in Arkansas, so he built them. 
The remarkable thing is that he was allowed to.

https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2025/5/8/what-one-first-time-developer-can-teach-us-about-housing-solutions

Excerpts:

> He wasn’t backed by a big firm. He didn’t have special training or deep 
> industry connections. He just saw a problem in his community and figured he 
> could do something about it. And then, crucially, he was allowed to.
> What struck me was how unexceptional this project should be. It wasn’t the 
> product of a large-scale housing initiative. It didn’t rely on tax credits or 
> public subsidies. No special incentives, no unique foundation funding, no 
> ribbon cutting. Just a neighbor stepping up to build one small thing that 
> matters.
> 
> Right now, it’s often harder for small-scale developers to build than it is 
> for large ones. Zoning codes mandate lot sizes and setbacks that don’t pencil 
> for infill. Permit timelines and fees are fixed, regardless of whether you’re 
> building one unit or 100. And financing systems treat small-scale as riskier, 
> despite the fact that these projects often serve real market needs with lower 
> price points and less disruption to existing communities.
> 
> This isn’t theoretical. It’s already happening in places where small-scale is 
> legally allowed. Cities like my example from Springdale, Arkansas, but also 
> South Bend, Indiana, and Durham, North Carolina, are beginning to see results 
> not because of massive subsidies, but because they’ve adjusted their codes to 
> make infill legal, small lots viable, and flexible building types permitted.

Article has pictures and more information. 

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org