Resident Application: Cedar Rock Cooperative
LIMITED EQUITY APPLICATION
• sustainability • diversity • community • affordability • perpetuity • dweller-control •
Cooperative Housing: An Alternative Model for Affordable, Sustainable Community Development
Greetings from the Weaver Community Housing Association!
In 2002, a group of affordable housing advocates and social justice activists from the Chapel Hill, NC area united with a mission to create permanent living structures that 1) provide permanent, sustainable and affordable housing for low-income families and individuals and 2) empower residents to make decisions and cooperatively control and maintain their home. This two-fold mission originated from alarm at the rapidly depleting availability of local affordable housing and concern about absentee landlords who were subjecting their renters to poor and often unsafe living conditions.
The cooperative housing model provides an alternative solution to the age-old problems that tenants of cheap rental units face, namely, they have no ownership and virtually no say in how they live because a landlord or corporation exclusively owns and runs the property. It has always been a problem for families or individuals with low incomes to have a voice in housing policy and nearly impossible for them to actually own homes. The co-op model means that properties are owned by a nonprofit organization that is governed by property residents so member/residents take part in shaping the policies and guidelines under which they live. We are using the cooperative housing model as a means to accomplish six principles: affordability, perpetuity, dweller-control, sustainability, diversity and community.
● Affordability: Members monthly payments are based on the target income range of those earning less than 80% of area median income. Additionally, the cooperative structure allows for residents to share physical and service resources (ranging from yard equipment to vehicles to gardens to baby-sitters). Creating a supportive residential community saves valuable time and money for all participating co-op residents.
● Perpetuity: All properties controlled by the WCHA shall remain affordable so long as they are owned by the WCHA.
● Dweller-control: All properties are cooperatively maintained and governed by the residents. Each property has the authority to create its own set of policies, so long as they fall within the guidelines of the WCHA Bylaws. Wherever possible, consensus is the preferred decision-making method. Member residents will elect representatives to serve rotating terms on the Board of Directors for the WCHA. The Board of Directors will be composed of no less than 50% member residents as well as community representatives.
● Sustainability: In order to create affordable communities that will remain livable for future generations, social and environmental sustainability must be essential principles for all current projects. Wherever possible, the WCHA employs the concepts of permaculture, using alternative resources such as solar heating, growing food on the premises, and building with safe and healthy materials.
● Diversity: Cooperative housing provides an opportunity for a wide range of residents to benefit from affordable housing and a supportive neighborhood, from families to individuals with special needs to older people to very-low income workers.
● Community: The egalitarian, participatory aspects of the cooperative home create a supportive community for all residents and the extended neighborhood. Each co-op has a community space, to be used for social activities, meetings, and educational workshops.
● CEDAR ROCK APARTMENTS: The Cedar Rock Apartments on 703 & 705 N. Greensboro St. in Carrboro, provide five three-bedroom cooperatively-controlled apartments and one community utilized unit to be used for meetings, skills development workshops, social activities, and guest lodging. The apartments are 943 sq. ft, with washer/dryer, 2 bathrooms, H/V/A/C units for heating and cooling, and fully equipped kitchens. Individuals and families can apply for up to three bedrooms in these apartments. Individual adults can submit a single application for one bedroom within a co-op apartment, or they can apply as a group with up to three qualifying. Residences in Cedar Rock are limited to those earning less than 60% of Area Median Income. Residents participate in monthly meetings and share responsibility for groundskeeping, maintaining the common facilities, planning social activities, selecting new members, and coordinating co-operative development. Per room rental is $317 per/mth for standard & $366/mth for primary-bed/bath. A full unit, for families of 3 or more, is $1,000/mth – this does not include utilities, phone & internet/technology services.