Editorial supports smaller homes

The Idaho Statesman newspaper published an editorial Sunday supporting a developer's request to include smaller-sized homes in a new Kuna, ID subdivision. The developer's request to build several homes less than the 1,400-square-feet required minimum size was turned down last week.

Several customers recently told the developer they wanted homes in his subdivision, but didn't need 1,400 square feet. The developer focused on 1,250 square feet which “wouldn't detract from the values of nearby, larger homes. One hundred and fifty square feet less than somebody else isn't going to ruin a subdivision."

"The city should protect a neighborhood's integrity. Very few investments in our lifetime are more important than our house,” said the planning commissioner.

“When I signed the development agreement (minimum 1,400 sq ft), we were at $2-a-gallon gas,” the developer said. “Green, energy-efficient homes that are what you can truly afford - that's the marketplace right now.”

The newspaper urged the planning department to work with developers and builders to educate residents that with good design, construction and maintenance, even a small house can look great and uphold neighborhood property values.

Small house conference in July

Great news from the April issue of the Small House Society News. (I like the way Greg refers to recipients as a "Friend of Simpler and Smaller Living".)

The Small House Society Conference 2008 will take place July 12 and 13 at the Iowa City Public Library. It is part of an overall Resources for Life Conference.

Don't miss this chance to take a first-hand look at Greg's 140-square-foot residence, the Mobile Hermitage, on July 11.

Affordable housing discussion: Together or separate?

I'm considering forming a new Yahoo group for people serious about truly affordable cohousing concepts. Already I've received several private e-mails from people expressing an interest in doing this. I hesitate to start a discussion like this separate from the main coho mailing list because the knowledge and support of experienced cohousers is needed.

Since coho projects often are formed in a particular geographical area, I'm not quite sure how this new list would look. I'd like to see it include people who primarily want to keep expenses well under $150,000 per member, including community construction and membership -- from any geographical area.

If you are interested in being notified about formation of a group like this, please leave your name and e-mail address in the comments area. I'd also encourage you to subscribe to the Cohousing Association's mailing list , check out the Cohousing wiki, and follow links from these sources and the Small House Society to read more about it. More later as this idea percolates.

Tiny House to Call Your Own

Oikos books has an excerpt from “A Tiny House to Call Your Own - Living Well in Just the Right House” on it’s website here. By Sarah Susanka, the book stands out as a major contribution to the small house movement. If you ever wondered about all the advantages of building small, this is the excerpt to read.

Make ‘Modern Prefab’ Malleable to Masses

“... people may be finally recognizing that there might not be such a great future in 10,000-square-foot McMansions.”

-- Allison Arieff, founder, former editor,
Dwell magazine, author of “Prefab”

Gee, shucks, mame .... Ya think? Maybe? This isn’t the formerly “mundane, ugly architecture” of prefabricated homes. Check out this article (and photo gallery) in the L.A. Times that celebrates the revival of ‘modern’ prefabs, even during the slumping housing market.

Arieff leads prefab designers Michelle Kaufmann, Jennifer Siegal and Rocio Romero in a panel discussion titled “The Four Women of Prefab” during the annual CA Boom show in Santa Monica, California, per the southern California publication.

Modern, made-to-order prefab could help make an architectural variety of homes available to people who can’t afford what’s currently on the market, Arieff said.

A few more important points in this interview:

• Made-to-order, modern prefabs rely on natural light and ventilation ... expanses of glass, exposed beams and studs
• Prefabs are made with ‘smarter’, more sustainable building materials ... smaller footprint
• Quicker construction time, more efficient use of materials, less waste, money saved
• Make sure there aren’t stipulations against prefab and manufactured homes on your lot

More are Thinking Small

In case you missed it, there is a great article in the Feb. 16, 2007 New York Times Great Homes section about the small house movement. Written by Bethany Lyttle, it includes pictures of many small homes and tells the story of how or why many people are using small homes to take care of a variety of needs.

Wisconsin cohousing bucks national downturn in home sales

While today's housing market falls apart, cohousing projects in Madison, WI, aren't having problems selling units, according to an article on the Madison Commons web site.

Three cohousing projects already exist in Madison. A fourth in the works is providing a "little shining bright spot in the Madison housing market," a future resident of Arboretum Cohousing said.

Affordable for Troy Gardens was $109,500 for a two-bedroom condo and $139,500 for three bedrooms. The project used federal and local funds and the profits from its 10 market-rate homes to subsidize 30 below-market-rate units. This let sometimes expensive 'green building' elements to be installed in all 40 units.

Habitat for Humanity built one unit in the Arbco Cohousing project.

Communal housing comes of age

The Los Angeles Times published an article in December 2007 describing the concept of elder cohousing. As an example, it used Wolf Creek Lodge, a cohousing project in formation in Grass Valley, Nevada County -- the Gold Country foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California.

Officially classified as elder cohousing, it's members range in age from 59 through 84 with most in their mid 60s. It's an offshoot of the growing cohousing movement. The article describes the basic premises of cohousing, where it started, and where it's going. It's a great resource for people learning about cohousing.

The people participating in Wolf Creek hope to join with a group of like-minded people -- all relatively healthy and not that old -- and together they could build a community that would be something between a commune and condo complex.

Wolf Creek will have 30 units, complete with a common house where members will dine together several nights each week. It will be California's second elder cohousing community and only the fourth such project nationwide, according to the article. A dozen or so others are in the works.

Although at 53, I have a hard time thinking of myself in terms of being an 'elder', the reason for forming the community rings true for me: "Many people don't have an extended family, or it's an extended dysfunctional family," said one potential member. "We'll have this close community for, well, the rest of our lives."

Interesting to know that there are about 100 multi-generational cohousing communities in the United States -- more in Northern California than anywhere else. They usually consist of town houses or separate residences built around a common house and shared open space. Elder Cohousing is a response to the fading away of our traditional understanding of family and care-giving, according to Dr. Bill Thomas, geriatrician.

What members want is to live in a place where "if you break a hip, your neighbors will help you buy groceries. . . . We're trying to recreate the neighborhood, so the neighbors will look out for you," one member said.

The units are expected to run from about $200,000 for those designated affordable to $500,000. The complex also will have two guest suits an a unit that could be used for a shared caregiver.

"The ides is to make lifestyle choices now that can sustain you through your future but which provide a lot of fun," one member said. "The idea is to maintain control over your own life as long as possible."