Why is it that when a set aside for affordable housing is announced by a developer the range of income is $35,000-80,000 and dependent on family size. Affordable housing should mean individuals able to own a home base on a living wage set for a community.
The definition of a living wage should be set by regions within a state and reflect the lowest wages of jobs in a community.

The living wage of a community should be the standard bearer for setting any housing goals for any income level. To keep housing affordable and not dependent on the market place requires some level of control of the housing stock that starts out affordable. Cooperatives are the best way to keep the initial idea of affordable within the grasps of community’s living wage individuals.

Cooperatives help to enforce the longevity of affordable housing for more than the 20 years that a government may have placed on a project as a restriction for its financial support.

Donated land, seized property, energy efficiency grants or environment grants government should provide. The philanthropic sector should provide endowment funds for maintenance and repairs to keep mortgages and rents low but to address minor repairs and maintenance. Volunteers within a community can provide the working labor to build and renovate the housing.

Owning a home is a great accomplish and dream for most people. The subprime problem provides a lengthy story about greed in a free market society. Trust is the first and foremost what that individual believes when being told what they hope to achieve. Telling a person exactly what they want to hear and they just about believe every word the person says. It is not education or money that make the individual less likely to fall for the deceptions.

The trust has to be at the community level in which a whole community is invested in the outcome. In cooperatives the ownership and their community belongs among the owners of the cooperative. While the community brought the cooperative life, the owners are its breath and spirit.

Bring more partnerships to the table to create affordable housing cooperatives. Support your employees to become members of a cooperative and have a place they can call their home on the wages your organization pays them.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under Fundraising, Corporate Giving, Program Development, Strategic Planning, Consulting, Public Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.