Saturday, April 18, 2009

San Antonio Co-Housing group actively planning for the future

Over the years several groups of people have attempted to establish co-housing in San Antonio. Creating co-housing is almost always a long process. A current San Antonio Co-Housing effort is led by Jason Winn.

The group is currently in the process of discerning what sort of community they want. They are looking for ways to encourage a private developer to include a co-housing model in a project and/or looking to establish a space-sharing arrangement with a non-profit entity.

One problem with co-housing has to do with financing and these approaches may help them work around it.

They are considering what areas in general they would like to be in. At this point they are most interested in areas with walkable neighborhoods and essential services (food, public transportation, health clinics), which means the older neighborhoods.

They are also trying to envision an ownership model that will work for them. Is it co-housing with individual units and a central building which is most expensive. co-operative single building with common kitchen which would be more affordable but which is harder to finance, or a model of living in the same duplex, fourplex or several of them nearby which would allow for the most flexibility.

Co-Housing is a form of intentional community, which is often part of a move toward a more sustainable society. In a co-housing community, storage, workshops, a community cooking and dining facility or child care facilities may be shared. Usually the housing units can then be smaller than they would be otherwise.

The San Antonio Co-housing Yahoo Group has some discussions from 2008 that you might find useful. But be sure to email Jason Winn directly to learn current information.

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