UPDATE: I've re-published the "Affordable, Sustainable Housing" series to the Intentional Communities Research and Development Group because the series led to interest in and the formation of the group.
As I mentioned in Affordable, Sustainable Housing I: As Direct Action, several obstacles complicate the construction of the kind of housing described there and shown in greater detail in the companion diary, Affordable, Sustainable Housing II: Materials & Methods. To recap, these are the major challenges facing those currently pursuing "alternative" housing:
1. Building departments/codes, which prescribe codes relating to specific, conventional materials and dimensions;
2. Zoning commissions/regulations, which prescribe the acceptable subdivision (and, hence, affordability) of land;
3. Developers, whose interests are focused on profit, which have little to do with affordability or affordable sustainability;
4. Lenders, ditto;
5. Prospective, neighboring communities are simply not familiar with these materials and methods and may require education and assurances...
As
cybnndara noted in the comments of the first diary, zoning boards are dominated by developers and realtors who shape regulations to support high prices. Living in an area where governance is dominated by developers and realtors and prices are unusually high extending way out into the desert, I believe that's true.
bontemps argued that the market reflects what buyers want as a culture.
There may be some truth to both assertions, but I believe there is a cultural mini-trend toward smaller, more affordable, sustainable housing that is colliding with the aforementioned conventions. There's evidence of that below, but I hope to answer the question more definitively in the coming weeks. Please chime in if you have insights to share.
Community Rebuilds, in Moab, UT, is a non-profit that builds affordable, sustainable straw bale homes with volunteer interns (interns get housing and $100/mo. food allowance; it holds two 4-month semesters per year; 8 interns build one house per semester).
According to Emily Niehaus, Executive Director, actual home costs come in at about 50% of market and are packaged with low interest mortgages. Emily explained that it took her years working with the Building Department to develop the code and first set of engineering drawings necessary to build. To reduce costs, she uses the same set of drawings for each house. The homes are built on lots purchased around town. Take a look inside, there's more to this 950 sft home than you think.
I will be visiting Moab in the next few weeks to sit down with Emily, discuss her non-profit in greater detail and see the current work in progress. I am considering assisting Emily in opening a chapter in Salt Lake County. Perhaps the work she's done will expedite straw bale building up here.
I've also spoken with Jeff White, executive director of Sarah House Utah. He also worked years to gain approval to build a Container House in Salt Lake City. Construction of the house is nearing completion.
Due to several upgrades and the cost of the land, Jeff expects the home to come in at around $115K. I've seen numerous other examples online in the $20-$80K range, though I am not certain that all of those prices are including the cost of land.
Jeff continues to press for approval to build another Container House at the back of the lot and access a cul de sac at that end. And he's an architect with all the right City connections, including the Mayor, Ralph Becker, a green advocate who has championed extensive bike-friendly development. And he's still been at for years.
Because of the above market conditions, alternative housing development is furtive and sparse. Sarah House Utah notwithstanding, sustainable housing using natural materials and containers, etc., is mostly done in more rural areas where regulations and codes are non-existent or enforced with greater leniency. In my research so far, much of the construction of affordable, sustainable homes takes place in discrete intentional communities where sustainability is valued.
Intentional Community is an inclusive term for ecovillages, cohousing communities, residential land trusts, communes, student co-ops, urban housing cooperatives, intentional living, alternative communities, cooperative living, and other projects where people strive together with a common vision.
- Fellowship for Intentional Community (FIC)
Many of us are familiar with one or more of these community concepts. Some of us know someone who is or was involved in one. The ecovillage is the most obvious though not only sub-group involved in alternative housing, especially
natural building.
As with Community Rebuilds above, several communities doing natural building are able to attract volunteers and interns interested in participating for the learning experience, many of whom pay for the education. While many of the communities have hippies and ex-hippie yuppies involved, many do not, and most show evidence of significant interest among young people, especially among the interns.
O.U.R. Eco-Village and Cobworks conduct 2 & 4 month programs for "Cob & Community Skillbuilder Interns" (select interns are then offered paid internships for $500/mo. plus room and board for 4 months).
Dancing Rabbit Eco-Village of Rutledge, MO, which appears to be closely affiliated with, perhaps founder of, the Fellowship, has unpaid internships (work exchanges) to support its Container House workshop.
As with Dancing Rabbit, many, possibly most communities hold workshops on starting and building intentional communities, consensus decision-making, natural building and permaculture. Through these programs, communities exchange training for labor, many charging workshop fees as well.
Earthaven eco-village has about 30 natural buildings in several different neighborhoods, arranged around different needs and principles, on its 329 acre property outside Asheville, North Carolina.
For one last example, Texas Intentional Earthship Community and Cooperative provides biotecture training in Dallas and Austin.
Sustainable Biotechture Homes are off-grid, dome buildings made with recycled materials. They use rammed earth tires for thermal mass. They are self-cooling and self-heating. They create their own solar power, wind power, catchwater, contained sewage treatment and sustainable food production. Domes are rated by FEMA as earthquake, hurricane, tornado, and fire resistant.
In addition to training on building these earthship / dome hybrids, the cooperative also teaches permaculture, including aquaponic farming to grow fruits, vegetables and fish. "These systems provide for all basic human needs: shelter, food, water, and power; because no one should have to pay a cost just for living."
Some readers may recall OPOL's recent diary, Emergence of the Hive Mind – Orchids in the Cracks.
I think our society is in the midst of a seismic shift, and I think we probably haven't seen the least of it yet. And while there are many negative effects, some of what's going on is very hopeful. It's about changing paradigms. It's about realigning ourselves with reality. It's about permaculture, sustainability and a whole new way of living. A way of living in harmony with nature and science.
- One (Mightily) Pissed Off Liberal :)
In that diary he also mentioned
this guy, Michael Reynolds, who runs an earthship biotecture school in Taos, NM.
If you did not read that diary or do not recall it in any detail and are finding yourself interested in this subject, now would probably be a good time to check it out. It covers a lot of ground, well.
As you can see, a movement exists for affordable, sustainable housing as well as permaculture and intentional communities; at least half of the listings in FIC's extensive directory are for communities that are forming. In closing, here's MSN Real Estate list of Best Places to Live Off the Grid.