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Co-operative
- cooperative Housing is an apartment building or a group of dwellings owned by
a corporation, the stockholders of which are the residents of the dwellings. It
is operated for their benefit by their elected board of directors. In a
cooperative, the corporation or association owns title to the real estate. A
resident purchases stock in the corporation that entitles him to occupy a unit
in the building or property owned by the cooperative. While the resident does
not own his unit, he has an absolute right to occupy his unit for as long as he
owns the stock.
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Co-operative
housing
in Davis, CA
Davis and Yolo County are home to over 30 types of cooperative and mutual
organizations. This site is a chance to find out about many of them in one
location.
Intentional
Communities
Today,
there are more than a million units of cooperative
housing in the United States. Almost 80 percent are located in New
York with others scattered in metropolitan areas around the country.
Permanently
Affordable Housing
Green
Roofs for Healthy Cities
Local
Land Use Principles
Building
Homes in Less Time Saves Money
Affordable
Housing Design Advisor
Building
Livable Communities: A Policymaker's Guide to Infill Development
Community
Design Principles
Green
Affordable Housing Coalition Construction Terms
Sustainable
Community Building
Blueprint
for Greening Affordable Housing
Contractors
that Build Green Affordable Housing
Manufactured
Housing Construction Loans
Construction
Loan Process
Mixed-Income
Housing
USA
Today article: "Manufactured Homes & Owners Gain Respect"
Co-ops
101
An Introduction to Cooperatives
Sector:
Affordable Housing
Building on its successful history in
cooperative housing finance, NCBDC launched Together We Can in late 2003.
Together We Can promotes cooperatives as an effective means to preserve
affordable housing and create homeownership opportunities for low to
moderate income families. Partnerships with the City of New York and
several community-based developers are expected to produce 1,600+ new
affordable cooperative housing units in the first 3 years. To
preserve and develop affordable cooperative housing, the program employs:
technical assistance, training, advocacy, and predevelopment capital for
experienced non-profit developers.
Affordable
Cooperative Housing Roundtable with the Ford Foundation and Harvard Joint
Center for Housing Studies in New York City in Awarded HUD technical
assistance contract in Metropolitan New York City
Understanding
Your Options: Manufactured Housing Training
Mixed-Income
Housing Resources
The
Scottish Eco-Housing Co-operative
Manufactured
Home
Owners & Tenants
Association of New Hampshire
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Commonweal
Fair Growth Project: While environmentalists have waged a "smart
growth" battle against sprawl, they have yet to address the land use
decisions that use exclusionary zoning practices to keep low-income
Americans out middle-and upper-class neighborhoods. In effect, environmentalists have advocated "smart growth" practices but the
have been slow to recognize that this will remain an elitist movement unless
it is also addresses "fair growth" concerns of low-income
Americans.
Benefits of Housing Co-ops: Some concepts about Co-ops that are favorable:
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MARKET EQUITY
In a market equity co-op, units are bought and sold at market value, similar to
family homes and
condominiums. In practice, a market rate co-op is operated in a manner similar
to a condominium.
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The major difference is that, as in all co-ops, residents do not own a specific
piece of property, but
instead own a share of the cooperative corporation that owns the building.
Residents have a binding
long-term lease to occupy a specific unit in the building. Unlike condominium
associations, coop
member-owners also control who is eligible to purchase a co-op share, so new
members must be
approved by the board of directors. Additionally, co-ops own real estate that
can be borrowed
against for property improvements. Condominium associations only own the common
elements of a community, not the real estate itself, often limiting the condominium members’
ability to obtain
loans to upgrade the community infrastructure.
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LIMITED EQUITY
One of the unique aspects of a cooperative corporation is that the co-op can
adopt bylaw provisions
that limit the maximum resale prices of co-op units. Typically, this strategy is
employed in order to
maintain long-term co-op housing affordability and retain the value of any
public subsidy that may
have been used in financing the creation of the co-op. Since this type of co-op
limits each unit’s
equity appreciation, it is called a “limited equity” co-op. Because of their
potential for offering long-term affordable housing, limited equity co-ops are attractive recipients for
government and non-profit grants and loans.
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When a member-owner sells his/her share in a limited equity co-op, any return
on the sale is
limited by a pre-determined formula. Each limited-equity co-op has its own
formula, contained in
the co-op’s bylaws.
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Examples of limited equity formulas are listed
below:
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Zero or no equity–The member’s initial equity to buy in to the co-op
does not appreciate and is
simply returned on departure, less any debt owed to the co-op.
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Constant dollar–The value of a member’s share increases only by a
standard inflation index, such
as the consumer price index.
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Limited percentage–The maximum resale price is allowed to increase by a
certain percentage per
year to reflect some degree of market appreciation.
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Limited resale–Maximum resale price is increased by a set amount per
year, typically based upon
the underlying mortgage. For example, under a 30-year mortgage, members
might be credited with
an annual increase in equity equal to 1/30th of the “value” (cost to
develop) their unit.
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Shared equity–A non-profit or other such organization may own a unit in
partnership with a resident,
allowing the resident to reside in a more costly unit than would otherwise
be possible. When
the unit is sold, profit is split equitably between the resident and the
non-profit partner.
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Credit for amortization without appreciation–Members’ equity accounts
are credited with their initial down payment, plus a proportionate share of
the principle on the blanket debt that has been
paid down by the members’ monthly payments.
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Hybrid–In one housing co-op developed by NCDF, bylaws were written so
that a member’s equity
appreciation was structured in two stages. For the first five years, equity
growth was limited, equaling
the sum of one percent (1%) per year inflation allowance and the member’s
contributed share of
mortgage principal payments. On the first day of the sixth year of
residence, the member will be
allowed to sell his/her share at market value. This formula was designed to
encourage and reward
long-term ownership of units.
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LOW-INCOME or FIRST-TIME BUYERS
Cooperative home ownership is particularly accessible to low-income or
first-time buyers
because it often eliminates the need for an individual to qualify for a
mortgage. Historically, mortgage
qualification has been problematic for low-income homebuyers who are more likely
to have a
limited or incomplete credit history. Cooperative homeownership can eliminate
this problem. A coop
is most often financed through a blanket mortgage, for which the cooperative
corporation is
liable. Consequently, no single resident is liable, and individual residents do
not need to qualify for
outside financing.
Other Issues:
Affordability, Co-ops & Smart Growth
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