Greetings!
Here's a quick look at this month's newsletter...
- Cohousing is the new trend in Bay Area Living, says the San Jose Mercury News
- Community Update: Truckee River Cohousing
- A New York Times explanation of the affordable housing crisis
- Katie and renown housing/design Professor Clare Cooper Marcus
- Applications received for 500 Communities Program
- Exciting upcoming events
Enjoy!
- Katie & Bethany, The CoHousing Solutions Team
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"Cohousing: The New Trend in Bay Area Living"
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PUBLISHED: May 18, 2018 at 6:30 am
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A resident at a cohousing community in Mountain View Patricia Ann Boomer smiles at a fellow resident while working on the community's garden. (Photo by Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
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There is a "burgeoning trend in communal living among seniors, who are banding together to share resources and camaraderie. Whether they’re finding roommates or living in a
modern cohousing development
— private homes clustered around shared spaces that residents manage together — these seniors are finding a new way of thinking about retirement, one that revolves around creating a community where you can age in place with others. Some say living-together options are the future of aging."
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At Phoenix Commons, residents own individual condos but share public spaces like a common room and a dining room which make it easy to socialize. (Photos Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)
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New Community Forming!
Truckee River Cohousing
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Yes, it's really on the Truckee River, walking distance to town, in the middle of the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains.
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Truckee River Cohousing is under contract on a unique riverfront site, walking and bicycling distance to downtown Truckee, CA at 5830 feet in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains. The community will be connected via a developing
world-class hiking and biking trail
system which will eventually connect Truckee to Reno and Lake Tahoe. This intergenerational community embraces the
values of environmental stewardship, civic responsibility, family, healthy lifestyles, and of course, fun!
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Lots of info sessions and site tours coming up! Check out their
website
or
Facebook Page
for details.
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Drawing by community member, Swenja Ziegler
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Curious about why there is such a lack of affordable housing?
Read this article by the NY Times for a good explanation...
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"These 95 Apartments Promised Affordable Rent in San Francisco. Then 6,580 People Applied."
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The lotteries...said Kirk McClure, a professor of urban planning at the University of Kansas, “are a simple manifestation — and apparently an unavoidable one — of the fact that we have never in America made affordable housing a right.”
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"Affordable-housing projects were already becoming harder to execute as
federal support dwindled and construction costs rose.
Then, after Donald J. Trump was elected president, the value of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits began to fall. Changes to the tax code suddenly looked likely, and a
lower corporate tax rate would mean companies would have less reason to put equity into affordable housing in exchange for credits to offset their tax liability."
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The Declining Value of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits
When a tax overhaul looked likely after the 2016 election, Low-Income Housing Tax Credits lost value. Below, the price per dollar of tax credits that investors have been willing to pay:
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• Women Leaders in Community & Housing •
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Katie McCamant & Clare Cooper Marcus
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Recently, CoHousing Solutions President Katie McCamant met with UC Berkeley Professor Clare Cooper Marcus, whose seminal book,
Housing as if People Mattered, greatly informed Katie's work. "It was such an honor to have Clare visit Nevada City Cohousing. We live so much of what she researched with post occupancy evaluation regarding community-oriented housing and her advocacy work for children, family, and seniors."
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"A designer must consider both the larger societal changes and the creation of better, more supportive environments from people's daily lives. We believe that thoughtful design takes into account existing knowledge and provides a chance for people to express themselves, be effective, and feel empowered."
- Clare Cooper Marcus
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• 500 COMMUNITIES PROGRAM •
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Wow, what a pool of applicants!
We are so excited about the prospective students for the 2018-19
500 Communities Program. With 30 applicants, we have some difficult decisions ahead of us in order to get down to the dozen for the 2018 class. It's clear that this year we are going to have an incredibly strong cohort!
If you're thinking about taking the course in the future, the next course starts in 2020, and you can start preparing now...
Here are 6 tips that will help make you a competitive applicant for the next course:
- Attend the cohousing conferences (see below in upcoming events).
- Visit cohousing communities (check out the directory from Coho/US to find a community near you).
- Read the books on cohousing.
- Are you living in cohousing or involved with a forming group? If not, what are some of the things holding you back?
- Hone your resume, think about what you could bring to the program… is it Project Management experience? Marketing and Sales? Community Building? Other skills or areas of expertise?
- Make sure you're signed up for updates about the program to stay in the loop.
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September 21-23, 2018
Amherst, MA
Don't miss the Northeast Cohousing Summit
happening in Amherst, MA this September! Be sure to check out
CoHousing Solutions Affiliate Shelly Parks' session at the conference: "Marketing & Sales Tools for Member Recruitment."
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May 30 - June 2, 2019
Portland, OR
Save the date for the National Cohousing Conference in Spring of 2019! The CoHousing Solutions Affiliates are expected to be there in force... it's an event you won't want to miss!
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We provide
development consulting services to help you create your sustainable neighborhood. Our team pioneered the development of cohousing in North America, and we have helped create dozens of successful communities.
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Our newest venture involves training passionate cohousing entrepreneurs through the year-long
500 Communities Program.
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Architecture by McCamant & Durrett Architects
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