Victoria Cohousing and Affordable Home Ownership Nov 15 2024 sm.pdf

Affordable Homeownership approach to cohousing and workforce housing for Victoria Cohousing.

1. Gratitude, People and
Principles
Presented by Kristopher Stevens
www.CohousingOptions.ca
November 27, 2024

2. 2
I recognize that we are more than treaty people. We are more than settlers,
indigenous or displaced persons.
In gratitude I acknowledge with deep respect that we work, live and play on
the ancestral traditional and unceded lands of Indigenous Peoples.
Together, let us dedicate our efforts to advancing truth and reconciliation
amongst the Peoples of Canada.
To being good stewards of our families, community, ecology, and the
country we call home.
Let us live our rights and duties in respect and gratitude of these sacred and
ancestral indigenous lands that continue to bless and inspire our many
Peoples.
May our good intentions bring us together to do good and great work
together.www.native-land.ca/
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Toronto, ON - 2019

3. üCommunity development & support
üDesign & development oversight
üNon-profit financing coordination
3

4. Why?

5. 5
• Affordable
• Healthy
• Social
• Public / Private
• Participatory
• Co-caring
• Independence
• Proximity (15 min)
• Commons “gateway”
• Pedestrian
• High efficiency
• Sustainable
• Scale (~35)
• Safe
• Resilient
• Age in place
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Harbourside Cohousing, Sooke, BC - 2019
Building to meet OUR needs (Quality of life Metrics)

6. “If it doesn’t work socially, why bother?”
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Quimper Village, Port Townsend, WA - 2018

7. PRIVACY
COMMUNITY
7Images by Kristopher Stevens, Cranberry Commons, BC & Toronto, 2019

8. > Private
< Commons
> Commons
< Private = Co-living
Longer-termShort-termInvoluntaryLonger-term
CohousingHotelsHospitalsFamily-centred living
Apartment complexesGuest housesPrisonsFlat-sharing (Rental)
Commercialized
Co-living
MilitaryHouse-sharing
(Co-buying)
CampingBoarding schools
FestivalsStudent housing
RetreatsSenior housing
Summer campsMonasteries
HostelsFraternities/ Sororities
Guardianship
Squatting
8Images by Kristopher Stevens, Cohousing Toronto, Toronto, ON - 2019

9. Image by Kristopher Stevens, Windsong Cohousing, Langley, BC - 2018
Cohousing

10. Cohousing is a planned
residential neighbourhood
that combines private
homes with shared indoor
and outdoor spaces that are
designed to support an
active, interdependent
community life.
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Cohousing Toronto, Toronto, ON – 2018; Cohousing Conference, Portland, OR - 2019 10

11. Trends
•Smaller families
•Extended families living apart
•People are living longer
•Desire for more traditional
neighbourhood (co-caring
relationships)
•Desire to live a more sustainable
lifestyle that is less car dependent
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Aurora, ON - 2024

12. Images by Charles Durrett - 2018 &
Kristopher Stevens, Harbourside
Cohousing, Sooke, BC - 2019 12
In cohousing we share things like:

•Ideas
•The ups and downs of life
•Community meals
•Common house
•Caregiver suite(s) & services
•Cleaning & maintenance
•Tools & equipment

13. •Gardens
•Workshop & craft spaces
•Exercise facilities
•Child-minding
•Co-working space
•Utilities
•Teen & children's rooms
Image by William Right Photography, Capitol Hill Cohousing; Susie Fox, Songia - 2018 & Kristopher Stevens - 2019

14. Image by Cohabitat Quebec – 2017; Kristopher Stevens, Cohousing infographic postcards - 2018
What can it
look like?
•Detached houses
•Town homes
•Cottages
•Mid-rise
•High-rise

15. Scenario
20 meters
Cherry Hill Cohousing
32 units
4,500 sq ft commons
Vancouver
Cohousing 31 Units
6,200 sq ft commons
Quimper Village
28 Units
4,000 sq ft commons
Windsong
34 Units
5000 sq ft commons
Silver Sage (Senior)
16 Units
5000 sq ft commons
Wild Sage
34 Units
3,500 sq ft commons
Munksøgärd
100 Units (5 x 2 units)
5 common houses + town square
Example of a few cohousing communities
1 acre

16. Holiday neighbourhood development
•Boulder Colorado
•A 27 acre site
•333 units
•Wild Sage Cohousing (34
units)
•Silver Sage Cohousing (16
units)

17. Brampton workforce and cohousing project
– 148 units on ~4.5 acres
Images by Kristopher Stevens and Architecture Unfolded, Brampton, ON – 2023

18. Making it about us, can make it
affordable
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Hearthstone Cohousing, Denver, CO - 2024

19. The other
guiding principles
üPrivacy + Community centered
•Affordability
•High performance (Affordable)
•Resilient (100 years +)
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Cranberry Commons, Burnaby, BC - 2019

20. By 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can
afford and that meets their needs.
We need 3.5 million APPROPRIATE new homes.

21. In 1993 all levels of
government terminated
affordable housing funding
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Quayside Commons, North Vancouver, BC - 2018

22. Victoria needs 4,500 to 6,000
homes which
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Halalt First Naiton, BC - 2024

23. At an average of $900,000 per unit
$4 - $5.5 billion
in grants subsidies

24. No level of government has these
resources available

25. We need more tools to
address the housing
crisis

26. Part of the solution needs to work
without grants or subsidies

27. CMHC defines affordability as, “a household
spending less than 30% of its gross income on
acceptable shelter.”
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Hearthstone Cohousing, Denver, CO - 2024

28. “Affordability”…is
personal, and is what your
household can afford:
Many households cannot “afford”
homeownership, because they are not able to:
•Save a sufficient down-payment
•Gain a mortgage approval due to high
interest rates
•Enter the housing market due to high
housing prices
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Cohabitat Quebec, Quebec City, QC - 2020

29. Most households
are forced to
remain renters
● Household insecurity
● High expenses
● No equity appreciation
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Owen Sound, ON - 2020

30. Making ownership affordable
•Increase buyers down-payment capacity
•Take advantage of bulk-mortgages that will reduce your monthly
carrying costs
Ensure:
•Construction costs are kept low
•Quality is high, and
•Long-term operating costs are reasonable and manageable.

31. Down payment + Reduced Carrying cost
Your down payment
5 -20%
Your mortgage
Community Wealth
Mortgage
~15%
Your mortgage
~50%
Community Wealth
Bulk Loan
Your down payment
1 – 5% +

32. Homeownership
benefit: The Landowner
•Paid fair market value
•To live their values
•The opportunity for their
families and neighbours to
participate
32Image by Kristopher Stevens ,Eco-Quarter, Mannheim, Germany – 2022
32

33. Homeownership benefit: Municipality
•A housing solution that has little impact on taxpayers
•1.5 jobs per unit built
•Potential for a local modular plant
•An incentive to attract industries to the region
•An increased percentage of owners in the community
•Greater employment stability
•Residents who can live closer to work
•A model sustainable neighbourhood development
Image by Kristopher Stevens, Portland, OR - 2019 33

34. Homeownership
benefit: Homeowner
•Affordable home ownership
for incomes as low as
$30,000
•Pride of ownership
•More flexibility than
affordable rental
•Equity appreciation
•Save to own is possible
34Image by Kristopher Stevens, Quimper Village, Bainsbridge Island, WA - 2018

35. High performance
“Use the least to gain the most”
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Boychuk Passive House, Victoria, BC - 2019

36. Climate resiliency (100 years+)

37. Remember the principles
•Affordability
•High performance (Affordable)
•Resilient (100 years +)
•Privacy + Community centered
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Eco-Quartier, Stasbourg, France – 2022

38. Your call to action - Land
üA housing & economic need
üA collaborative land-owner
üA “multiplex” site for 100 + homes
minimum
•Small centre - 20 – 25 units/acre (3.5 story)
•Large centre - 50 – 60 units/acre (6-8 story)
Images by Kristopher Stevens, Vancouver Cohousing, Vancouver, BC - 2018

39. THANK YOU!
39Image by Kristopher Stevens, Toronto, ON - 2018
Kristopher Stevens
[phone]
[email protected]
www.CohousingOptions.ca
www.Roots2Roofs.org