Rayellens house

Some better way to make housing & be neighbors

Housing prices, cost of living, and general isolation has most people I know living a grinding life. It can feel overwhelming when we think about fixing the whole system. But some people are charting better ways, ways more like the way people use to live. In village. In community. In care.

Here are some projects that show interesting options to live more sustainably.

See some cool things

The stories and links below are inspirational models we can learn from as we move forward.

Here is a great explanation of MICROVILLAGE

A micro-village is a purposeful pocket neighborhood that is designed to promote community, interdependence, and wellness for its residents and surrounding neighbors.

Rather than fences and lawns, the design incorporates walking paths, gathering spots and diverse green space that centers human interaction and keep cars at the periphery.

Micro-villages often utilize green building practices, alternative energy sources and permaculture to steward the land that they are built upon.

Learn about Missing Middle Housing

Opticos Design

https://opticosdesign.com/

Like many rapidly growing cities, Winston Salem has corporation developed apartment/condo buildings and suburban sprawl of single family homes. While this is preferred way to live for some people, there are other ways to develop a city that are more affordable and use up less land while prioritizing the natural environment.

Opticos has worked with the city of Winston Salem to adopt well-tested planning an ddevelopment ordinances that enable missing middle housing. See the 2019 presentation here: https://www.cityofws.org/DocumentCenter/View/1467/Missing-Middle-Housing-May-2019-PDF

RESEARCH: People who live in community are happier.

Amid a growing loneliness epidemic, many people are increasingly interested in cohousing—a form of intentional community where residents choose to develop a project together and cultivate a more social, supportive community of neighbours.
Research shows that the values highlighted below lead to more successful and sustainalble projects

How to turn your neighborhood into a village

Mark Lakeman initiated a movement in Portland to transform the homogenous neighborhoods of the city into places that have many of the qualities and characteristics that are found in some of the most treasured villages on Earth.

Mark reveals the lessons on how to transform from neighborhood to a village.

Radish CoHousing

"Radish is built around the “Obvious Truth” — that people are happiest and healthiest surrounded by people they love and admire," they explain on their website. Phil Levin and Kristen Berman wanted to live near their friends, but they didn’t want to sacrifice their privacy, so they started their own intentional community where you can choose your neighbors and eat together but still have your own home. They called it Radish. They all have their own homes, but they share time and common space in a way that makes each of their lives richer.

Co-Living Creatively

The Flora an Ulysses project, 4 homes on 2 lots built to zoning code in a city burdoned with both McMansions and Homelessness. This creative urban infill provides affordable rental housing and community connections for the tenants that live there, and a modest profit for the developer. I

Project designs: https://www.polyphon.com/flora-and-ulysses-coliving

Great article about co-living: https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/land-lines-magazine/articles/why-housing-design-has-to-evolve/

Sonora Cohousing

This is what 36 cohousing dwelling units in an urban location on 5 acres looks like.

Rather than build on every square inch of the developable lot, or put up a giant apartment building and parking lot, a creative group of people decided to build differently. Each family owns their own townhouse, and a portion of the shared resources include: pool, chickens, garden, lawn, children's house, common house, work shop, art room, guest house and abundant fruit trees. They manage their own HOA.

Sonora Cohousing, Tucson AZ

https://www.sonoracohousing.com/

Crow Woods

Jan Lester from Seattle wanted to spend her retirement years with other people, but not in a corporate-constructed elder housing development. She became a Village Instigator and adapted her single family lot into multile housing lots where residents each have their own buildings and share time, land and values with each other.

South Park Cottages in Atlanta-

Developer Booker Washington of Atlanta has created a modern tiny house & cottage home community in the Atlanta metro. Includes 29 two-story small & tiny homes, 399 to 635 sqft--energy efficient with smart home features & luxe finishes. Situated on 2.5 acres around communal spaces, including walking trails, gardens & fire pits with parking on the perimeter.

This lot was developed to give each resident their own dwelling, connected by walk ways and a beautifully developed site - rather than hallways to a high rise apartment.

Financial support for a suburban home food forest.

This is a great example of moving food production to where the people are, cutting down on transportation costs and maximizing land use. Whether grown for profit, for one's own family, or for the neighbors, well managed gardens can be beautiful while also making health eating more affordable and accessible.

Cottages on Vaughn

Housing is getting VERY expensive and available land for new development in many parts of the country are scarce.

Here is a project on a 0.5 acre lot, 1 block from downtown Clarkston in the Atlanta Metro. Includes 8 cottages situated around a common green space with edible regenerative landscaping. Total project costs: $1.2M including land acquisition and infrastructure.
$110K costs per home were sold for $175K average. The residents have afforable living and shared resources, the developer made a profit, 7 fewer lots needed to be cleared for housing.

Earthseed is a center for community resilience through cooperative ownership of land and resources. Earthseed is a transformational response to systemic oppression, committed to centering People of Color and other communities pushed to the margins.

Projects include Tierra Negra Farms near Durham, a collective of farmers, educators and cultural workers, striving to model a community-controlled food system that is just and sustainable.

https://www.instagram.com/tierranegrafarm/

https://earthseedlandcoop.org/

This young man is creating housing and community impact by building duplexes where single-family homes have traditionally been the norm. For about the cost of a single home, the owner now has a place to live and rental income, and the tenant has a place to live that is nicer than a traditional apartment.

Donovan Adesoro explains a project:

$50K lot, $250 build, Buyer has $1800 mortgage with $1200 rental income

Neighborhood is beautiful

Intentional community is not new. Practices, legal structures, financial plans and more resources are available from projects that are already thriving.

Foundation for Intentional Community https://www.ic.org/

This company is credited with inventing the term CoHousing. Their designs show us a way to develop land with human interaction in mind, adapted to many different types of projects and spaces. Compare their designs to any of the single family development projects that are approved by the planning board and designed to maximize developer profit and see what you think!

https://www.cohousingco.com/

Building Small

Here is a toolkit from expert Jim Heid, FSLA. Even traitional builders can learn to integrate the best thinking in economic resilience, authentic placemaking, and social responsibility https://www.jheid.com/small/

Investing Strategies

Lili Invests breaks down house hacking (rehab, not new construction)

Microlife Institute, Atlanta Georgia

https://www.microlifeinstitute.org/

CoHousing and Intentional Communities in North Carolina (& nearby)

Cohousing is more common in other parts of the world, but North Carolina and Southern Virginia have a number of existing and formoing communities.

Emergent HQ is being seeded on 8 acres in Mt. Airy, lead by Whole Systems: https://growingsystems.org/about/
The Peace Pentagon is a retreat and training center located in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia along the ancient New River. www.PeacePentagon.net This is part of www.TheOracleInstitute.org and on the land where the Valley of Light intentional community lives.
Pacifica Co-Housing is a cohousing community of about 100 people in Carrboro, N.C., that dates back to 2006 https://pacificacohousing.com/
CommonGround Ecovillage 100 acres in Durham https://www.commonground.eco/
EarthHaven rural EcoVillage in Western NC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybFE15LM1h8
Earthseed Land Collective: A center for community resilience through cooperative ownership of land and resources. A transformational response to systemic oppression. https://earthseedlandcoop.org/
Eno Commons is a cohousing community of 22 homes situated on 11.2 acres in Durham https://www.enocommons.org/
Blue Heron Farm Community
Village Hearth is a LGBTQ 55+ community in Durham https://www.villagehearthcohousing.com/ (Ex units: 2BR, 2B 1,152 sq ft $439K, 900sq ft condo $418K)
Durham Central Park Urban Cohousing https://www.durhamcoho.com/ (Ex: 2BR, 1.5B, $625K)
Elderberry Village Rougemont https://www.elderberrycohousing.com/ (Ex: 325 sq ft Tiny Home $165K)
Twin Oaks is an ecovillage community with 100 people in central VA https://www.twinoaks.org/
EcoVillage in Loudoun County near Washington DC is underway https://ecovillageloudoun.com

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