Yikes, May looks really busy for everyone! Let's think about a meeting in June (I'm going to be gone 2nd half of May in Palm Springs with some union organizing- life's rough :) Not to worry, the most important part of the meeting was going to be just kind of fleshing out what our ideals in would be in collective housing and there's no huge rush on that aspect since it will be a good while before the church as a substantial group of people can get into some sort of non-profit or collective buying arrangement.

The other important part of the meeting was going to be encouraging individual families to start looking into buying tri-plexes, duplexes or units of four apartments together for those who are seriously thinking about getting into housing sooner rather than later. Obviously this bit is more urgent. The families that I know of who fit in this category are the Kane/Whites, the Borgers and the Bulgriens. I have talked to them and they will likely start to look for something together. They could likely use one more family that might be interested in purchasing with them so I encourage any of you so interested to contact one of these families. I would be more than willing to help pair families up if more families are interested and give you contact numbers so you can begin contacting the right professionals.

Look forward to hearing from you.
Aaron

It's high time for another meeting. Let me suggest two items for the agenda:

1) For those families interested in purchasing multi-unit places together on the regular market as a means of building up equity before we do something collectively as a church (it will likely be awhile before we get something off the ground) I will provide some contact information. After talking to the O'Rourkes, the most sensible process seems to be having these families first discussign with a finance professional each families distinct situation so as to determine what kinds of properties can feasibly be purchased by the collective. These families can then talk to a real estate agent (given Jamie's relationship with the O'Rourkes and their assistance so far, they would probably be a great choice) to find units that fit within the groups' purchasing parameters. I'll give this info out at that time so families can organize themselves.

2) It would be beneficial to just kind of dream together to think of what our goals should be as a congregation as regards collective housing and housing those with lesser financial means who are unable to get into the market. Jamie, Scott, and I can share how the meeting with the O'Rourkes went. I have had trouble nailing down a meeting with the non-profit professional we were going to talk to, but if that meeting occurs prior to our big meeting we can update on that as well.

Let me tentatively plan on the Saturday two weeks from now (I believe that's the 7th of May) at 7pm for a meeting. Please email me back to let me know if that works. In addition, let me know if you have ideas that you would like to see discussed at the meeting or comments about the evenings format. Your comments are always appreciated. Go mayoral recall.

Thanks friends,
Aaron

Let me give you a little update. Last Friday, Jamie, Scott Borger and I met with the O'Rourkes to discuss forms of communal ownership of property. I'll give my impressions of the coversation - Jamie and Scott, feel free to add anything. The O'Rourkes thought that the most tenable way for us to enter the market (for members who can't get into the market the standard way) would be for the church itself to buy property. Since the church already owns a big chunk of property, it could more easily qualify for a big blanket loan (since the church already owns a big chunk of property, this built up equity gives it more leverage in qualifying for and getting a better loan). The church could then sell the individual units. The specifics about the units (ie, if the church wanted to set appreciation rates so that prices remain more affordable in the future, how many people should be connected to the life of the church, etc) would all be laid out in the contract. There seem to be a couple of advantages in doing it this way. First, we wouldn't be limited by outside organizations' strictures (ie, its apparent that if we worked with the city's financing, they would be averse to us already having a specific group of people who make up the majority of the occupants picked out). Second, families who normally would not qualify for mortgages would still be able to participate since the church carries the loan. Clearly, this option of the church buying property is no small feat. The English speaking congregation is only a shareholder in the church's property so all the congregations would have to be convinced of the viability/goodness (as opposed to value right John ;) of the project. You can imagine the intense discussion that this feat would require as you decide important logistics, not least of which is the process for deciding which families get to participate, which units, etc. Although difficult, this process would probably be redemptive in itself.

We are planning to meet with some people more familiar with the non-profit model soon. I'll give you an update on this too. Obviously, this whole process will take a long time. A few people have expressed a lot of urgency in getting into housing as soon as possible. We may want to think of encouraging these folks to find others in the congregation who also have a little built up/ or salaries sufficiently high enough to go in together to purchase two or three famiy places. The economies of scale would still be of advantage (buying in bulk is cheaper). While this will be good for a few families who collectively have the means, its no solution for all the families in the church as not all the families would be able to qualify for mortgages. I'm thinking that after Jamie, Scott, Cassie (if you're still interested in meeting Cassie) and I talk with the non-profit folks we will report to the group and go over the options. This next week I'll try to get contact numbers to those who might be interested in purchasing collective units together in the short term. The Bulgriens and Borgers have both expressed interest in doing something like this quickly so if any other "B" families are interested they can join up with them. I'll try to get some contact numbers to help make this easier.

Jamie and Scott, feel free to add any emendations from your memories of our meetings with the O'Rourkes.

Peace all,
Aaron

Jamie's idea sounds great. I met with Sue Reynolds a few months ago and Community Housing Works is basically working on developing large affordable apartment complexes right now so their work probably doesn't intersect a lot with our interests. I think we should definitely talk to Matt Hervey, Tom Scott, and Matt Jumper. I'll call them this week and see if I can set up a time. It would be great to have some others who are potentially interested in the project come and meet them with me. Obviously we can't all show up but maybe four or five of us? Since Jamie already knows a lot of these folks and Scott Borger has worked some in development work in the East, it would be great to have them/you join me if you can. If one or two others are interested in meeting them with us that would be just dandy. It seems likely that any options that will rely on some form of non-profit or special financing will likely take a while to get running. Consequently, we should also be thinking about just getting into smaller complexes of ten units or so as a means of building equity until one of these other larger non-profit or affordable projects come through. Thanks for the suggestions Jamie. I'll try to get in contact with these this week.

Aaron

Well, the possibilities of a limited equity housing cooperative as one of the options we are considering looks more and more untenable. As you know, Ms Cohen tentatively set up an appointment with us for next Saturday. About a week and one half ago I emailed her to nail down details and she did not respond. After calling her law office four days ago she has still not responded. We better call of the meeting for this next Sat since we would want adequate time for promoting. In addition to not having the meeting this next Saturday, it seems increasingly unlikely that Ms Cohen would be able to assist us. For whatever reason she has not communicated well and her location in Los Angeles does not mitigate the situation. It would likely be difficult having her direct our efforts from Los Angeles at any rate.

At this point it seems to me that, given the difficulty of finding an experienced developer who would be willing to work with us in establishing some sort of non-profit, we should really take seriously the option of creating limited liability corporations (the traditional model where people would just collectively buy an apartment building, for instance, together without dealing with the complexities of applying for non-profit financing--discussed in the last email). A few members of the congregation have, rightly so, stressed that we really need to get moving on housing quickly. To that end, we will bring in somebody who knows the llc model well and could possibly assist us in its implementation were we to choose doing housing this way. This is not to say that creating non-profit housing would no longer be important if we decided to promote LLC among members of the congregation. For one thing, these apartments would likely be affordable for many of our families otherwise may not
be able to access the market. The option would also allow us to collectively build up some wealth which would make a non-profit more feasible for the future. I've been lazy this last week in not getting in contact with Jamie about his real estate friends who are familiar with the LLC model. I'll try to nail down a date this next week so we can move forward. However we decide to house ourselves I trust it will be in a just way that does not further divide along lines of wealth in the congregation but works to a more equable life together. I know and am thankful that is your desire as well. As always, your wisdom in all this is needed so please write back with comments/ideas/concerns.

Peace,
Aaron

Our meeting for Sat April 9th is still set to have Lottie Cohen come speak with us. I should know times within a few days. We are still working on someone who could come speak with us on limited liability corporations. It looks like Jamie's friends may be able to do that - I'll keep you posted.

I have a request of you that meddles some in your private lives :)

Ms Cohen has requested that we compile an estimate of the total family incomes of the different families interested in some sort of communal arrangement. This will better enable her to give us a more accurate estimate of what sort of grants would be available to us were we to decide to do a housing cooperative. Pastor Anthony is working on getting me that info for members of his congregation. If I could have you all email me rough estimates of family incomes that would be great. Naturally, we won't give the amounts to her along with the names of the families. We'll just say, for instance, that we have 10 families in the 25,000-30,000 range; five families in the 30,000 to 35,000 range; and 5 families in the 20,000 to 25,000 range. Thanks for your response on this one, this will give her more of an idea of the financial feasibility of doing a cooperative as it relates to available grants.

Hope this email finds you all well. I look forward to meeting again.

Aaron

Well, we're likely to have some more info meetings fairly soon. Jamie Gates is talking to some real estate friends this week who have experience in purchasing property under limited liability strictures. This would be the for-profit route. The advantages would be that it would be something we could likely do very soon (not having to jump through a lot of hoops like applying for different non-profit grants and loan arrangements that an affordable housing/non-profit arrangement would require). Scott has done some good work in looking at 8-10 unit apartment complexes around the area so we would likely move some families in these areas. We would probably be looking at around $120,000 for two room complexes. That comes out much more affordable than buying individually. Presumably, once we collectively build up some equity we could then more easily create something like a limited equity cooperative or some other model that would create non-profit housing.

I have also tentatively scheduled Lottie Cohen to come speak with us on April the 9th. She is the laywer who has lots of experience in LA working with both for profit and limited equity cooperatives in southern California. She comes highly recommended from the National Cooperative Housing Association as well and the National Cooperative Bank. After talking with her we will hopefully have a better idea of the feasibility of a non-profit project. I have forwarded you all with an article from the Los Angeles Business Journal that discusses some of her work in LA.

So, within the next month and 1/2 we should have some folks coming to speak with us. After that we should be in a better position to determine what we can and want to invest our time in. Thanks all for your support and concern.

Aaron

Sorry for taking so long in writing an update on the housing cooperative. First some good news. Pastor Antony has mentioned that about 10 families are interested in discussing communal ownership together as are about 5 families from the Cambodian group. Interest for the project is definitely there.

As mentioned in the last email the objective right now is to find a developer who could assist us in at least exploring some form of cooperative living. About two weeks ago I met with Bob Kennedy of the Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Diego to see if they would be interested in our project. This option doesn't look too promising. The city is not really interested in groups trying to establishing housing in which the potential tenants are largely predetermined. They would rather have anonymous applications to projects they complete so it doesn't look as if they will be able to assist us. This means that there are really no local options as far as housing developers who have experience in non-profit cooperative arrangements. We will have to see if there are potential developers who have experience located in other parts of the country.

To that end, a week ago I called the housing project developer from the National Cooperative Bank. She has not returned my call so I'll try to give her a ring again tomorrow. I have not contacted that housing cooperative lawyer again as I was seeing if we could contact someone locally but I will attempt to get in contact with her again this week.

Another option that both John Wright and Scott Borger have suggested as a possible course of action is to see if we can buy smaller units like 10 or so units at a time and not worry at this time about doing the non-profit thing since it takes a lot more technical assistance. (We could likely easily find a project developer in town if we are just buying an appartment complex collectively - a lot less hoops and expertise needed than the non-profit model.) Without talking it though with you, my first response is that this would certainly be a viable model as some families of lower incomes for whom buying single family homes is not an option would be able to participate. The equity people acquire could then possibly be used in buying a larger complex in the future that could possibly be a non-profit model.

At any rate, I will see if I can get ahold of some people this week. We should probably meet again soon to discuss possible ways of going forward. In general, what are good nights to meet for all of you? Or mornings and afternoons if Saturday? Look forward to hearing your ideas.

Peace,
Aaron

Here's an update for co-op activities this week. Sue Reynolds (of Community Housing Works who I met with last week) and Bob Kennedy of the city's redevelopment agency this the best way forward it to meet with different non-profit developers in the area to see what kind of projects they would be willing to assist in. The idea is that there is little point in educating and trying to build a coalition around the idea of trying to establish a cooperative say if there's not going to be any support with any local developers. The idea is that once a developer is found who will support the project, then you begin the education and trying to find a core group of people who could be interested in the project. So... Mr. Kennedy and I will have a meeting in about two weeks to discuss how we could possibly work with the city. I have also talked to Ron Cummings of the Jacob Center which is basically running a land bank in the Euclid/Market area of town. They are a pretty interesting groups.

Basically, and this is a rudimentary explanation, they own lots of land in that area of town and are trying to help families who have lived in the area for a long time begin to buy homes from them at affordable rates so that the area is not gentrified and outside developers don't just come in and buy up all the land and thereby jack up home prices. Although they won't be able to work with the specific idea of a cooperative with us (we don't all live in the area already) we would likely be able to assist some of the Cambodian members of the church who already rent in the area to jump on board the process. If any of you are interested in the corporation its name is Jacob Center for Non-Profit Innovation. Perhaps more discussion needs to take place on what goals of the congregation should be. If our goal is just affordable housing then we can probably work to hook different families up with different affordable rental units ran by various non-profits or hooking up families with land trusts like the Jacob Center. If we want to actually learn to live together and use housing as a way to facilitate the mission of our congregation of sharing of goods and lives together then we would have to work harder to find a developer that will come alongside us in this goal. (Most developers seem to see a group of people that also happen to go to church together as sectarian or exclusive even though I presume we would want the membership not exclusively people from our church). There are a few more developers in town I can talk to to see if our mission/ goals would coincide but it seems likely that if we want to work with the cooperative ownership model comprised of members of our church (I presume as a base, not exclusively people who are members) we will probably have to get the help of outside developers. Anyways, there's a few more local developers in town who we can try to talk to. In the meantime, let me know if you would like to talk with me about our options or how I am seeing the process for the next few weeks. Any ideas/questions/worries/etc are, as always, encouraged. Would another meeting at this point be helpful or shall I just plug on in talking with different developers in town? Hope you're all in a good way.

Peace,
Aaron

I met with Sue Reynolds, the executive director of Community Housing Works, this last Tuesday. We had a nice meeting and talked about the possibility of partnering on a housing cooperative project. Let me give you some information from that meeting.

First the good news. The government offers special deferred loans especially for limited-equity cooperatives. In the three limited-eqity housing cooperative projects CH Works has done, this loan made it possible so people could buy there units for under $3,000. Because of the complicated process in becoming approved for these "blanket loans," (ie feasibility reports, environmental reports, contracting out the legal work, etc) it would be necessary for us to partner with a project coordinator such as Community Housing Works. Unfortunately, CH Works no longer works in establishing cooperatives. They want to do work right now mostly in establishing affordable rental complexes consisting of at least 80 units. That said, Ms Reynolds was very encouraging in the idea of us establishing a cooperative and said that the ideal size is 25-40 families, a target range I think doable within our multi-congregation. She gave me the names and numbers of a few other community development non-profits in the San Diego area who might be interested in partnering with us in the project so I'll try to contact them today.

Ms Reynolds suggested that are objectives at this point are twofold. First, we should be in initial contact with some of these groups and see if this sort of project interests them. Second, we must continue to educate and build up a core group of people who are seriously interested in trying to establish the cooperative. For us, I think that means bringing in someone who could talk with us and others from the multi-congregation about their work with cooperatives. I forgot to ask Sue for some of the names of people who helped plan, execute, and now live in the cooperatives in town that they started but I called her today and will probably hear from her Monday. If we could get one of these persons to come who is also familiar with the financing aspect of things, I think it would be a good meeting.

Well, let me know if you have any suggestions/questions on how the process is going so far.

Peace,
Aaron

I thought I would update you all on the housing co-op progress. I have been trying to talk to people who could come chat with us about cooperative housing. The first is Lottie Cohen (a cooperative lawyer in LA). I have emailed her twice and have not heard back from her. I suspect her email is down since one message was returned to me and since she quickly returned my calls before when I contacted her. The second person is Anne Wilson who works with Community Housing Works (an offshoot of Price Charities). CH Works has assisted in financing and developing three limited equity housing cooperatives in San Diego within the last 5 years. I think there's great potential for us to work with them and it would be ideal for them to come and speak with us. They were able to finance these co-ops to such an extant that they would be very reasonable to afford. Check out their website at www.communityhousingworks.org Another potential source of financing in San Diego is through the San Diego Housing Commission. They provide a lot of loans/grants for first time home-buyers and housing developers in San Diego. There adderss is www.sdhc.net. Looking at this info just gets me more excited about the possibility of funding for a project we would be interested in.

After talking to Pastor Antony I have become more convinced that buying co-ops could be a real possibility even if we were to receive limited grants. If an apartment unit with around three rooms costs around $120,000 (the average price per units that I was looking at in City Heights is $105,000 per unit if buying whole complex so 120,000 is my guestimate for the larger units) then mortgage payments could very well be below $1,000 a month. That is less than pastor Antony and most of the families in our church pay currently just to rent. Of course, we will have to get a good chunk of money up front for a down payment but some in our church have money saved up and there's a good chance we could secure some money from the district. Anyways, I'm pretty hopeful for the project and excited about moving forward and having a professional come speak with us. Well, feel free to respond back to me and/or the whole group with ideas, suggestions, concerns, etc. Thanks for you interest and faithfulness.

Peace,
Aaron

For now, this space will be mainly used by our good friend Aaron Friberg as a place to communicate with the members of the MidCity Church of the Nazarene who are intersted in living cooperatively here in San Diego.

Aaron has already devoted much of his time to researching this issue so that we, together, can turn this into a sustainable reality and live like the early Church as described in the book of Acts.

Acts 4:32-35:

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his or her possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he or she had need.

Without further ado, I'll let Aaron take it away!