Creating Permanent Affordable Communities
Boston Community Cooperatives (BCC) is a 501(c)3 organization
formed to build community through cooperative living, member education,
neighborhood improvement and collective action. Members participate in
a no-equity model of communally owned, democratically controlled and
affordable residential cooperatives.
Housing in Boston: the Need
BCC will purchase and manage properties to secure affordable
housing for cooperative living. This is an urgent need in the Boston
area, where housing prices went through the roof across Greater Boston
during the 1990s:
- In 12 of 19 cities and towns surrounding Boston, advertised rent
increased over 30% between 1998 and 2000.
- By 2001, households earning the average median income could not
afford the average sale price of a single family house in 112 of 161
towns and cities in the region.
- When Massachusetts' incomes and housing prices are compared,
Massachusetts is the 3rd most unaffordable state in the country, giving
it the 6th lowest home-ownership rate in the country.
In the long-term, many families and people of low and moderate income
are being priced out of the area.
The Dream of Affordable Housing
Boston Community Cooperatives is creating an affordable
community-based housing model for Boston area residents, based on a
nationally proven model of student cooperatives. The equity accrued by
paying off the mortgage will remain with BCC, enabling us to develop
additional affordable housing cooperatives. BCC's housing options will
be available for both students and non-students.
How it will work - BCC is taking these steps to
keep housing costs affordable:
- Requiring the equivalent of one month's rent as joining fee;
- Basing the monthly payments of each member on the cost of the
mortgage payments, thereby stabilizing costs, and protecting them from
the rising housing markets.
- Designating 50% of the shares to people whose incomes are 50% or
lower than the regions median income, and 80% of the shares to people
whose income is 85% or lower than the regions median income.
BCC has hired the Campus Cooperative Development Corporation (CCDC) to
provide us with technical assistance in purchasing and managing the
house. CCDC has extensive experience in assisting cooperatives with the
purchasing, managing, and refinancing of properties across the country.
Making the Dream a Reality: BCC's Next Steps
- The securing of financing;
- The identification, purchase and rehabilitation of a property;
- The development of the necessary management policies for leasing
to tenants living cooperatively in the greater Boston area.
And we've taken the first step! We've purchased a house in
Dorchester, a triple-decker. We now have thirteen
people living in our household.
The dream is starting. We've bought our first property, but your support is needed more
than ever...
Loans will
receive up to 4% interest annually, for the first 5 years. (See here for the detailed terms.) After 5
years, BCC will re-pay the principle, with the possibility, if mutually
desirable, of continuing the loan. Interest and principal loan
re-payment will be financed from members' monthly charges (i.e. rent).
Help support Boston cooperative living and affordable
housing options: Make a loan to
Boston Community Cooperatives today!
About us
Working towards a community-based solution to Boston's affordable
housing shortage, BCC brings:
- Experience with the cooperative process of planning and
maintaining a community living situation where residents have
connections with each other;
- Expertise in cooperative/democratic management and community
development;
- Built in expansion mechanisms;
- Dedication to mixed income communities;
- Several years of experience in managing money for rent,
utilities, food and supplies; and
- A nationally proven model based on student coops (see NASCO or COUCH for examples).
BCC was founded by members of the Millstone Cooperative, an
8-member rental coop in Somerville, MA. For five years, Millstone
created a community culture and managed community finances to
pay rent, utilities, and food bills. Now members of the Seed Pod
Co-op in Dorchester, MA, a BCC owned house, are trying to carry
this
legacy on. Fueled by a belief in the personal, social, and economic
power of
cooperative communities, we are living this model and hope to expand it
to include other houses in the future. In today's world, with its
fragmented and
often isolated lifestyles, a cooperative housing arrangement can
enhance an individual's personal sense of belonging, and their ability
to contribute to the well-being of others and society as a whole.
More information
Please take a look at our brochure, Articles, and By-Laws.
We also have some loan applications:
Contact us
For more information, write to us at bcc@bostoncoop.net or Boston
Community Cooperatives, C/O the Seed Pod Co-op, 31 Leroy Street,
Dorchester, MA, 02122, or contact us at 617-436-2965.
Boston Community
Cooperatives
Last modified: Sat Sept 9 13:17:11 EDT 2006