'alternative' futures for housing?

With all-time high housing prices reached in the last couple of years, Vancouver's residents are finding it more and more necessary to turn to alternative ways of financing their home ownership: basement 'helper' suites, enlisting the help of family members as investment partners, and even splitting a larger home with friends are just a few examples of the increasingly common strategies which propose non-traditional social, financial, and living arrangements as a solution to the problem of high mortgage costs. It is interesting that even financial institutions - traditionally some of the most conservative organizations out there - are now adapting to the challenging housing market; VanCity Credit Union now offers the 'Mixer Mortgage,' enabling you to share the purchase of a home with friends or family. A myriad of other alternative approaches includes the idea of cohousing, living in a smaller house in an intentional community and contributing time and finances to shared spaces and resources. (One writer's experience with organizing a small cohousing group is outlined here.)

I find the prospect of the many unforseen social circumstances that could arise out of such arrangements really exciting for the future of Vancouver; not only could it produce some scenarios that actually improve the richness and quality of daily life for many (having older people available for child care in a cohousing community, for example), but it could also point to a way out of the significant social and demographic disparity that exists in the city, producing instead more integrated, diverse communities. It is significant, however, that while so many are willing to go to great lengths to re-examine the traditional social expectations associated with the American Dream (a nuclear family in a single-family house in the suburbs), we seem less willing to examine as critically the cultural imperative of home ownership at all costs.