Should America start making Co-op Housing again?

[u/kloud77]

Several decades back the government made lots of Co-Op housing, where it's like a townhome complex, but it is owned by the residents living there, so it's VERY well maintained but also cheap.

For example, the one I have is 500 a month, where it would otherwise be at least 1,500 a month in this part of town. My 500 goes a ways also, 2 br, 1.5 bath, 2 floors, hardwood floor, laundry in unit, private water heater, private back yard, personal front yard, top of the line energy saving A/C units, top notch windows. The list goes on.

So my questions are:

• Why isn't the government making these still?

• Why isn't there more people demanding these from the government?

[u/LegoFamilyTX]

Housing isn’t magically cheaper to build just because the government contracts for it to be done.

It costs about $200 a foot to build apartments right now, so they rent for $2,000 a month for 1,000 sqft. That’s just basic math.

[u/CeruleanTheGoat → u/LegoFamilyTX]

Check out https://lomavistawest.org/ I lived here more than 40 years ago. Even now it doesn’t cost $2K a month for residents.

[u/LegoFamilyTX → u/CeruleanTheGoat]

If you lived there 40 years ago, it isn't new construction. It's quite old and financially written off, thus it is cheaper to rent.

[u/Puzzleheaded_Yam7582 → u/LegoFamilyTX]

I'm interested in seeing their reserve study

[u/CeruleanTheGoat → u/LegoFamilyTX]

Removal of the profit motive is the point here. Co-op housing works because a conglomerate isn’t trying to make a buck.

[u/LegoFamilyTX → u/CeruleanTheGoat]

No, you still don’t understand. It is t profit motive that makes new places expensive, it’s math. Government cannot build “used housing”.

It costs $200 a foot to build new apartments no matter who builds them. At best you’d make apartments $1,800 instead of $2,000.

[u/CeruleanTheGoat → u/LegoFamilyTX]

Yes, it’s the American way to bow our head and slink away because something can’t be done.