HOUSING

NPR - Officials in New York City are taking steps toward addressing its housing crisis by approving a housing plan called City of Yes. It could lead to 80,000 new homes over the next 15 years. The city has over 3.5 million homes, but most are occupied, and prices outpace those in nearly every other location in the U.S.

The plan has tweaks that will permit more housing: Some homeowners will be allowed to add an extra unit on their properties, and developers can build bigger buildings near subway stations, according to David Brand of WNYC, an NPR network station. The plan will also make it easier to convert offices into apartments and condos. Though significant, the plan won’t solve the city’s housing problems, especially for the lowest-income New Yorkers. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams says zoning alone doesn’t create affordable housing, which is why she got the mayor to commit more funding for rent aid and low-income housing. 

NPR -  The Damgens live in a 30-unit planned community called Daybreak Cohousing in Portland, Oregon. The couple says the move has been a game changer, both for their own mental health and for that of the entire family. "We would not have had a third child if we hadn't been here," says Rachel Damgen. Their daughter, Caroline, is now one year old. "If we hadn't been feeling so much better about how our lives were working — if we didn't know that we had the ability to holler for a neighbor's help and they would come."

There are close to 200 of these cohousing communities across the country – according to The Cohousing Association – designed to facilitate community through shared resources and common spaces. Members admit there are many tradeoffs to living in such close proximity to their neighbors including navigating a shared chore list and mutual financial arrangement. But many also say that they've found a way to conquer the loneliness and isolation that plagues so many Americans — especially today's parents.

The ease with which this community engages was on display on a recent day, as neighbors, representing all generations, flowed in and out of the conversation and engaged with kids in the community's shared courtyard under a towering maple tree. Rachel Damgen's two older sons threw a football around with a neighbor while the adults chatted. Another neighbor strolled by and offered to let the kids pet her dog...

Among the most significant trade offs cohousing residents cite is a time commitment to governance. Typically communities use consensus decision-making, a process that some say can be onerous. Rachel Damgen and Deana Camp say there are too many committees to count. "Process, facilities, project management," Damgen ticks off her fingers. "Security, facilitation, steering." Residents at Daybreak Cohousing are expected to serve on at least two of these committees and also contribute to shared chores like cleaning common spaces and yard work. Cohousing duties can take hours every week.

Much like most condo associations, fees are typically collected every month in most cohousing communities —and decisions are made together about how to spend the shared funds on things like renovations or upgrades in common spaces. This process, too, says Chris Damgen, can be tedious. "You get to know them, their quirks, their mannerisms, their emotions," he says of his neighbors. "What makes them brilliant people and what makes them maybe less-than-brilliant people, in some cases."

For many, there are also sacrifices of space. The Damgen family of five lives in a two-bedroom apartment, roughly 900-square-feet. Her two older boys share a room; the baby sleeps in her parents' room. The family has no plans to move. "Now, where the baby goes, no idea," says Rachel Damgen, laughing, "a hammock has been suggested to me as an option."