Jane Quigley 2019 Cohousing Hui Wellington February 2019 - The Viva! Project

Cohousing Hui
Wellington
February 2019

Jane Quigley
2019

“Cohousing – the way of the
          Future”
› The Hui looked at how to solve the big
  problem of having accessible housing for
  all New Zealanders
› Huge interest, a sold out event
› Attended by bankers/ financiers,
  designers, architects, builders, community
  developers – people interested in finding
  solutions
› Cohousing pitched as a potential solution

What is the problem with our
           present system?
›   High land price
›   High price for building products in NZ – our
    products are cheaper in Australia
›   Housing system setup to benefit land owners &
    wealthy investors resulting in high housing prices
›   Banking system is a traditional model that supports
    single house ownership with a large deposit
    required – not supportive of cohousing model
›   Present way of living causes Social disconnect,
    isolation, impact on wellbeing, depression, anxiety

What does Cohousing mean?

And one more ..
Size: The average cohousing development is
  15 – 34 households. By trial and error the
  Danes have figured out and are adamant
       a cohousing community should
   “never have more than 50 adults.”

What are their aspirations and
         intentions?
›   Shared vision & ideals
›   Involved in the design process from the beginning –
    giving early buy in & commitment to the end
    community; connection with future neighbours
›   Fostering a sense of community through design –
    common house, shared meals, cars to the edge, bump
    spaces where people meet
›   Affordable – few achieve this
›   Environmental aspects – solar, car share, etc
›   To live lightly on the land, increasing wellbeing and
    happiness through community connection

Frequently Encountered
          Problems
› Finding land
› How to keep it going & group together
› What legal structure to use
› How to finance the development
› Time it takes - on average 7 years to
  complete a community development

       Let’s look at some examples

Earthsong Eco-Neighbourhood, Auckland

•65 People (1 person previously)
•32 homes; Ownership-unit titles & 32rd share common land
•12,000 m2 land size (1.2 ha); Cars to edge – single most important
design aspect for community, frames what happens in the village

Quaker Settlement Whanganui

• 20 acres
• 16 homes
• 40 people
• Ownership structure – Land Trust - “guardianship” rather then “ownership”
• Communal facilities
• Cars to the edge
• 40 years to create!!!

Te Aro Pa - Wellington

• First urban Papa-kainga – communal facilities kept warm by people living in the
encircling houses - Iwi providing housing for their people in a traditional Maori way
• Ownership – Trust and rental
• Sited as affordable – prefab design
• 14 homes/ apartments
• Common vegetable gardens
• 16 years to create

Potential Solutions

• Collective ownership resurgence – e.g. Papa-kainga – Maori Iwi providing
housing for their people in a traditional Maori way.

• Co-operative development and ownership structures – long NZ history

• Building Societies e.g. Oslo Housing and Savings Cooperative been around since
1929, it’s built about 100,000 homes and it’s owned by its members. it’s got about
420,000 members and it’s built a quarter of all homes in Oslo

• New Zealand Housing Foundation, Affordable Equity Programme (& Affordable
Rental Programme)
• Example figures below for a 70% ownership share:
• Property's market value (for example only)$650,000
• Household buys 70% of the property with their mortgage and deposit $455,000
• New Zealand Housing Foundation's ownership amount is the remaining 30% or
$195,000

Potential Solutions Cont …

• Community Land Trusts - locally-based private non-profit organisation created & funded by
the community to buy land that is leased (sometimes sold) to enable affordable housing e.g.
Kotare Eco-village, Nth Island NZ

• Prefab building – claim fast & affordable. (Mike Greer Homes & KiwiBuild)

• Abolishing of GST on community development projects where residence are the
developers – Nightingale, saving of 30% on end costs

• Crowdfunding e.g. Collett’s Corner

• Local and or Central Govt support by having land more accessible e.g. Paris
initiative to have 25% homes affordable 2025; Singapore has a great affordable
housing model 80% state owned affordable; Christchurch - Madras Square …

• People Power e.g. all of us!

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