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Thanks for your inquiry about the nascent Santa Monica CoHousing Community, familiarly known as SaMo Coho.
We are excited at the prospect of creating a model community, either by purchasing and retrofitting an existing apartment building or finding raw land—which could involve razing a “teardown” and building from scratch. In keeping with the classic CoHousing model, we envision separate, fully independent private living units as well as a communal area with shared amenities to include a large and well-outfitted kitchen, guest quarters, and whatever else we collectively decide upon.
Theoretically, if 10 to 20 families/couples/singles could each pool resources of approximately $400K to $600K—well below the going rate for a condo in Santa Monica, we would have leverage to enter the market.
BUT…before we reach the stage of looking for a parcel and agreeing to live together in a CoHousing community, it’s important that we get to know one another—our values, likes and dislikes, personalities, quirks, etc. We have to learn how to engage in a fair-minded and sustainable group process so we can make decisions we can all live with, long term. To begin this journey, please take a look at the information posted at SaMoCoHo.com. For general info about CoHousing, visit the Cohousing Association of the United States.
We will be holding another of our informational meetings within the next few weeks. Details are available on our Events Calendar, and also from a link on our home page.
If you would like to offer any of your time, a meeting space, organizational skills, or anything else to help push SaMoCoHo ahead, we’d love to have your contributions.
Remember, CoHousing depends on community, so it's not going to happen for you while you sit on the sidelines. Please get involved, make friends, bring people to the group, and discover/enjoy the wonderful real-world everyday advantages of the CoHousing concept.
In community and CoHousing spirit,
Rayni Joan and Robert Moskowitz |
