Projects
For Which We've Provided Financing:
Equity
Trust Fund Borrower Projects
EcoVillage
at Ithaca - Ithaca, NY
It is important that alternative approaches to the
ownership and use of land be explored not only through small scale efforts
but, where possible, through more comprehensive projects. EcoVillage at
Ithaca (EVI) is a very comprehensive project. EVI has acquired 176 acres
with plans to build three pedestrian co-housing neighborhoods around a village
green, with 80% of the land preserved as wetland, woods, and farmland -
including 9 acres leased to a 150-member CSA. The first cohousing project
- with community building and 30 ultra-energy-efficient homes on a 3-acre
parcel - was completed in 1997. However, the second such project has been
slow to move forward. Unlike the first, its plans call for 50% of the homes
to be subsidized to make them affordable for low-income households.
Because, it is not a conventional "affordable housing project" and because
initial costs (though probably not long-term costs) are higher than those
of more conventional projects, the process of obtaining the necessary subsidy
from public agencies has been slow. The organization has made progress on
this matter, but in the meantime there are substantial costs for design,
legal work, etc., that must be paid if the effort is to move ahead. Where
else but the Equity Trust Fund could such an ambitious and unconventional
initiative possibly turn for predevelopment financing. ETF has made a $100,000
loan to EVI.
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