Cohousing and tiny houses

[pstachio]

Hello weird-lifestyle-inclined Mustachians!

I'm pondering how various community and cohousing arrangements could go great lengths toward the financial and environmental goals of Mustachianism. A FIRE dream of mine is starting or living in a cohousing type community made up of small, Mustachian dwellings, with a central house available for projects, large meals, and meeting with other awesome people.

Are there any Mustachians currently living in a cohousing/coop/intentional community setting? Anyone else sharing this as a dream or goal? Do folks have suggestions on resources?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[Zikoris]

I'd love to live in a tiny house Mustachian compound. I don't see it happening pre-retirement due to my city's archaic bylaws, but post-retirement, who knows. Can someone else put in the effort to start it?

I live in a housing co-op right now, which is kind of cool - everything is managed by volunteer committees, and we have some nice shared amenities. I actually use the common room for our local Mustachian meetups pretty frequently. But there isn't that "synergy" I'd expect in Mustache Town where everyone is kind of paddling the boat in the same direction.

[Missy B]

I'm also in Vancouver (West End) and I hear from my friends who hosted a tiny house for a while that the city may be floating a trial balloon on tiny houses. Like exempting tiny houses from the bylaws for a year and then assess.
Their tiny house people got notice from the city after a complaint. That part of east Van has a lot of people living in RV's etc in the alleys, and they suspect that they stuff (two dirt bikes, big truck that can pull a tiny house) taking up space in the alley might have started to grate on someone's nerves.
Anyway, if you're pro-tiny, now would probably be a good time to call 311 and voice your support for a bylaw trial.

[bludreamin]

My post-FIRE fantasies usually include some type of cohousing and/or can dwelling.

I have the following bookmarked http://www.cohousing.org/directory (US based)... Looks like it's based on this http://www.ic.org/directory/intentional-communities-by-country/.

These list co-housing/intentional living communities around US and globe, respectively. I like to go on every few years to see what's popping up and check out existing options in placed I think I'd like living.

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

Check out Zappos founder Tony Hsieh's lifestyle:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/zappos-ceo-lives-trailer-13-things/story?id=32928943

But "under $1000/mo" might be un-mustachian, especially in downtown Las Vegas, where cheap "real" houses and condos abound.

[HipGnosis]

Communes were tried in the US in the 60's.
I'm pretty sure they all failed.

[Blindsquirrel]

  You can pick up a single wide trailer (manufactured home :\ ?) pretty cheap in the rural areas of most states. The do have lots of  such tiny house communities near me, we call them trailer parks. Snark aside, the tiny house movement is an interesting one that could solve a number of problems in HCOL areas but they are only allowed in LCOL areas.

[bobechs]

Hello weird-lifestyle-inclined Mustachians!

I'm pondering how various community and cohousing arrangements could go great lengths toward the financial and environmental goals of Mustachianism. A FIRE dream of mine is starting or living in a cohousing type community made up of small, Mustachian dwellings, with a central house available for projects, large meals, and meeting with other awesome people.

Are there any Mustachians currently living in a cohousing/coop/intentional community setting? Anyone else sharing this as a dream or goal? Do folks have suggestions on resources?

Looking forward to hearing from you

.

 That's pretty much a description of a typical RV park, except the shared goals part.

Have to bring your own goals, or home-make them out of  scraps you find around the park.

[sparkytheop]

My brother and his family lived in "dorm rooms for adults" until moving into SIL's gramma's basement.  It was a very small room with private bathroom and a kitchen sink/microwave.  There were multiple community kitchens, a music room, a "relaxation" room, and a craft room. 

It's my idea of hell, but they enjoyed it.  It allowed them to live in an expensive area and keep the car parked most of the time by walking/taking the bus everywhere.

[ixtap]

  You can pick up a single wide trailer (manufactured home :\ ?) pretty cheap in the rural areas of most states. The do have lots of  such tiny house communities near me, we call them trailer parks. Snark aside, the tiny house movement is an interesting one that could solve a number of problems in HCOL areas but they are only allowed in LCOL areas.

We actually do have trailer parks in SoCal. Some of them are even convenient to public transportation.

[kissthesky]

  You can pick up a single wide trailer (manufactured home :\ ?) pretty cheap in the rural areas of most states. The do have lots of  such tiny house communities near me, we call them trailer parks. Snark aside, the tiny house movement is an interesting one that could solve a number of problems in HCOL areas but they are only allowed in LCOL areas.

haha this definitely made me laugh. I live in a manufactured home (in a trailer park) in a suburban HCOL area. And I love it. It's the perfect medium between a super tiny house and a regular house. Everything we need and nothing we don't. Plus less cost, upkeep, utilities, etc vs a larger house. The neighbors and sense of community are fantastic. Every time someone says "tiny house communities seem so cool, what a novel idea!" I literally roll my eyes... :P

[Goldielocks]

OP  for co housing arrangements, set up, contracts, and how they work in usa, europe, etc., check out this book.  It includes excellent descriptions of how each organization formed itself and planned their communities, and invited others, found land, etc.

(not really about tiny houses, but co housing / condo communities.)

Creating Cohousing
Building Sustainable Communities
By McCamant, Kathryn
   
Book - 2011
334.1 MCC

[alexpkeaton]

I live in a co-op in NYC. My apartment is < 400 sqft. plus a 100 soft terrace. I guess it's about twice as big as the typical tiny house? But it's definitely small by American standards.

But, I suspect this isn't what you're interested in given that Manhattan isn't exactly inexpensive. We paid $685k for the privilege of living in this postage stamp.

As far as community goes, a new guy moved in and we became fast friends with him and his frequently visiting girlfriend. They've even offered to babysit our 8-month-old. About half the building are part-time residents, but it means the building stays pretty quiet, and they're actually subsidizing my hot water and laundry.

[Habilis]

Count me in as interested in co-housing, co-living, etc. HCOL area and would love to create something more affordable for myself and others.

Habilis

[Imma]

  You can pick up a single wide trailer (manufactured home :\ ?) pretty cheap in the rural areas of most states. The do have lots of  such tiny house communities near me, we call them trailer parks. Snark aside, the tiny house movement is an interesting one that could solve a number of problems in HCOL areas but they are only allowed in LCOL areas.

haha this definitely made me laugh. I live in a manufactured home (in a trailer park) in a suburban HCOL area. And I love it. It's the perfect medium between a super tiny house and a regular house. Everything we need and nothing we don't. Plus less cost, upkeep, utilities, etc vs a larger house. The neighbors and sense of community are fantastic. Every time someone says "tiny house communities seem so cool, what a novel idea!" I literally roll my eyes... :P

I've always loved the idea of living in a park like that. Most of the parks in my country don't allow permanent residence though, and those that do are often quite rough. A friend of mine used to live in a very quiet corner of a permanent residence park, not in a trailer but in a chalet that I used to call her little house in the big woods. It wasn't that small (two bedrooms + small attic I think) and it sat on a pretty big plot surrounded by hedges and trees. It was a lovely place and all her neighbours were friendly retirees. I would love to live in a place like that.

[Blindsquirrel]

   Froma total cost of housing point of view, it is tough to beat a used trailer since they depreciate like chicken salad on a sunny  90 degree picnic table. Only living with roommates/house hacking is probably cheaper. There are actually some very, very nice trailer parks. 

[Trifle]

Communes were tried in the US in the 60's.
I'm pretty sure they all failed.

This is an old thread, but just wanted to say for the record that this is not true.  In my smallish city there are several intentional communities that would fit the definition of a commune -- and those are just the ones I know about.  They come in all types and sizes.  I have friends who created their own intentional community on their farm. 

[Goldielocks]

Communes were tried in the US in the 60's.
I'm pretty sure they all failed.

This is an old thread, but just wanted to say for the record that this is not true.  In my smallish city there are several intentional communities that would fit the definition of a commune -- and those are just the ones I know about.  They come in all types and sizes.  I have friends who created their own intentional community on their farm.

There are not many here that I would call "communes", but Co-op housing is alive and well.  Some are fully funded by original members, some have discounted land cost and the follow-up government requirement of a certain number of units for low "income tested" maximum rents.

"Over the years, federal and provincial governments have funded various programs to help Canadians create non-profit housing co-ops. The co-ops developed under these programs provide good quality, affordable housing. There are more than 261 non-profit housing co-ops comprising more than 14,500 units in British Columbia."

[thd7t]

Several continuously operating communes in my area.  People are very serious about them and they've done well enough to spawn "offshoots".

[K-12FI]

Not a tiny home, but the wife and I made the decision to merge households with her parents. In 2014, we had our own house, and were with her parents looking at apartments for them in Springfield MO, which is halfway between her brother & us. The problem was that, since my father-in-law teaches overseas for 7+ months of the year, he anticipated paying for an apartment that was going to be essentially empty.

My wife jokingly said, "You could just buy a house in our town and we could all live there. We'd 'house-sit for you then'. Well, one thing turned into another and now here we are. We cover the utilities, they the mortgage. We kept our house as a rental for a year before selling it.

Combining households has also allowed us to streamline our boys' homeschooling, as we now have four educators under our roof, and were able to aid our 15 year old on the fast track through dual credit coursework, leading to his entrance at university on a full ride this coming fall.  While we're not the most minimalist of mustachians, we do work within the confines of what we're given. Though living with one's parents on a permanent basis-a multi-generational household, that is-may not be for all, or even many, it is something that challenges the status quo in a way that those here normally do not consider.

In short: Challenge every assumption-even 'familial independence'.

[Imma]

Combining households has also allowed us to streamline our boys' homeschooling, as we now have four educators under our roof, and were able to aid our 15 year old on the fast track through dual credit coursework, leading to his entrance at university on a full ride this coming fall.  While we're not the most minimalist of mustachians, we do work within the confines of what we're given. Though living with one's parents on a permanent basis-a multi-generational household, that is-may not be for all, or even many, it is something that challenges the status quo in a way that those here normally do not consider.

In short: Challenge every assumption-even 'familial independence'.

This sounds like a great solution for your family! It might not work for everyone, but no solution is 'one size fits all'.

I just wanted to add that while we didn't actually live with our grandparents, my maternal grandparents lived around the corner when I was a child. My parents gave them some financial support, and my grandparents took care of us and did odd jobs around the house while our parents worked. Even though this arrangement ended a long time ago and I've been living on my own for 10 years, the close relationship with my grandmother has remained - it's just as close as the bond I have with my mother. My dad worked on his family's farm so we had a close bond with that side of the family as well.  I'm extremely thankful I've had the opportunity to get such a close bond with them (my grandfather sadly passed a decade ago) and I'm also really glad that they have passed on their history and knowledge and their family's stories that are more than a century old.  I hope your children will form a similar bond with their grandparents and cherish that for their whole life.

[kite]

My cohousing experience runs in the family.  Both my maternal and paternal grandparents as well as great-aunts and Uncles took in boarders.  My relatives with farms had on-site housing for migrant workers.  But my grandparents were renting bedrooms in their suburban homes. Then my parents did it.  And we do it.  A few of my siblings do it, too.  Sometimes these 'renters' are homeless/down-on-their-luck individuals who needed a couch to crash and it extended for a little.  Others are frugal planners with a strategy for renting only the amount of housing they actually need.  We're within public transportation to 5 colleges and there is always a number of grad students, people on fellowships or visiting professor kinds of gigs.  Some have been relatives or friends of friends and some have been strangers we met and invited in with no notice.   
We are foster parents, so our typical guest these days is a minor child.  But between placements, we have had homeless women stay with us.  Our house is small by US standards, at under 900 sq ft.