Photo: Stock Exchange/Screw it!

Learn how to lower your costs for utilities, mortgage payments, transportation, and food.

Co-presented with CUB, I-Go Car Sharing & Growing Home

·      Citizens Utility Board

·      I-Go Car Sharing

·      Growing Home

DATE:       Wednesday, July 28

TIME:        5:45PM to 7:45PM

LOCATION:  Illinois Action for Children | 1340 S. Damen | Chicago, IL 60608 | Free parking next to building

REGISTER:  Call Jennifer @ 773-769-5800, ext 224

Presented by

North Side Community Federal Credit Union, HUD-Certified Housing Counseling department

The available room is very very large, has a maximum amount of sun, a huge closet, and is suitable for a couple or a person who wants to be able to practice yoga or have extra personal space in their room. We are looking for someone really positive, creative, fun, thoughtful, and interesting. Is that you? Let us know if it might be! Visit our website http://www.BeyondToday.org/coop for more information.

Bee in purple clover

Title: Introduction to Cohousing
Location: Hall Public Library, 4801 S. Michigan Ave.
Description: Cohousing is a new approach to one of humanity’s oldest concerns – how to create a meaningful and vibrant community.

Cohousing adapts the best parts of traditional village life – cooperation, shard public spaces, intergenerational connections between neighbors – and invigorates those ancient ideas with progressive values like diversity, environmental sustainability, equality and democratic decision making.
Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2010-02-06
End Time: 12:30

Leland House Co-op

• February – member openings
• Mid-February – 3 month sublet, with an option of staying on as a full member beginning in May
• May – member openings

Do you find joy in your life? Do you care about social justice and community? Then share a big, beautiful house with good people at a low price.  Leland House, which was founded in 2000 in the Uptown neighborhood, is one of three houses that is a part of Stone Soup Cooperative.

You would live with 11 other folks with 3 floors and a basement.  All members have their own bedroom.  New members are asked to sign a one-year commitment, at which point they become a part owner of the house.  The house operates as a community in several basic ways.  First, there are house dinners 4 nights a week, for which everyone takes turns cooking.  There are also weekly cleaning and long-term house maintenance jobs.  The house holds meetings about three times a month to discuss house matters.  Meetings are conducted using the consensus process, which means that each member has an equal say in the decision-making process.   Finally house and all-community retreats are held a couple times a year.

The house is a large family-style home that includes six bathrooms, a huge front porch, free laundry, bike space, original fixtures, hardwood floors, and is less than a 10-minute walk from the Red Line train and Ravenswood Metra line.  The room cost, which includes utilities and internet access, ranges from $390 to $550, depending on room size.  There is a food share of $110 a month.  Each member also contributes a one-time refundable payment of $1000, which goes towards the cost of the mortgage.  This amount can be paid in installments, and it is not intended to be a hardship or deter anyone from becoming a member of the house.  People of color and members of marginalized groups are strongly encouraged to apply, and families are welcome.  Pets can be considered on a case-by-case basis.

To learn more about the house, and find out about the membership application process, please contact Dana, the membership coordinator, at membershipleland@gmail.com or 773-878-3225.

Stone Soup Leland House, 1430 W. Leland, http://www.stonesoupcoop.org

To keep things simple, “affordable” and “cooperative” are lumped into one category.  The South Evanston apartments are affordable condos. HUB Housing is an affordable cooperative, BeyondToday is an affordable shared house that is becoming a cooperative.

Two apartments at the HUB Housing Cooperative, located on Marshall Boulevard at 24th Street in Little Village, are available. The asking price is $138,000 for the first floor two-bedroom and $145,000 for the second-floor two-bedroom.  And, the co-op can finance much of the purchase price. Unlike much of life, this really does sound like such a deal! Check out http://www.chicagocoop.net/current-openings/.

Beyond Today, a co-op house in the Lincoln Square/Ravenswood neighborhood has rooms available,  http://www.beyondtoday.org/coop/. It is a group living arrangement with shared food, gardening, potlucks and music.

This link http://www.chicagocoop.net/current-openings/ gets you to current openings on the Chicago co-op.net website.

South Evanston Affordable Condos

The Evanston Community Development Association converted a wonderful vintage apartment building in South Evanston at 736-738 Dobson into affordable 2 and 3 bedroom condos. Three of the six units are available at $165,000 each. These beautiful apartments, two 3-bedroom and one 2-bedroom, are available to people who currently live or work in Evanston, with the following income requirements:

Family Size                             Maximum Income

3                                              $54,250

4                                              $60,300

5                                              $65,000

6                                              $69,650

E-mail ECDA’s Executive Director, Keith Banks kabanks1@yahoo.com for more information and to take a tour.

Happenings

Logan Square Cooperative’s Annual Open House

The Chicago cooperative community is active. The Logan Square Co-op annual open house was well attended on Saturday, September 13th. Hot, humid, rainy weather kept us inside instead of in the fabulous side yard. It didn’t stop the conversation, the great food, or the margaritas and beer, however. The good turnout, lively conversation and beautiful, happy children are a testament to Logan Square Co-op’s success. The residents are obviously happy to live there.