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Welcome

Finding a house that feels like "home" can be difficult for anyone. For a person whose physical and financial resources are limited due to severe disabilities, it can be even harder. A Home In Community is a 501(c)3 status non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation. We help people with disabilities fulfill their dream of living in communities where they benefit from daily connections with others, while having opportunities to support and give back to the community where they live. We do this by:

  • Educating communities and people living with disabilities about the benefits of living in community together.
  • Providing information and support that makes it happen.
  • Partnering with Cohousing Communities to create subsidized rental opportunities for low-income adults with disabilities.

In our first campaign, A Home for Mike, we have purchased a unit in CoHo Ecovillage which will always be rented at subsidized rates to adults with disabilities wishing to live in this Corvallis cohousing community. Click on A Home For Mike for details about this exciting project.

Interested in receiving email updates about A Home In Community?
Contact us info@AHomeinCommunity.org.


Please join us for this exciting presentation

  Building an Inclusive Community: The AHIC Experience

Hear the stirring story about how a cohousing village created an inclusive and visitable community. During the development of Coho Ecovillage in Corvallis, Oregon, members established a nonprofit organization called A Home in Community (AHIC). AHIC helps people with physical disabilities find homes in cohousing communities by:

  • Educating communities and people living with disabilities about the benefits of living in community together.
  • Providing information and support to make it happen.
  • Partnering with cohousing communities to create subsidized rental opportunities for low-income adults with disabilities.

Learn about AHIC's first project, A Home for Mike. For this project, AHIC purchased a unit at Coho to be rented at subsidized rates to people with disabilities. The presenters will describe the process of forming and operating AHIC, the steps to fund and manage A Home for Mike, the benefits of an inclusive and visitable community, and lessons learned to date. AHIC board members will be available to answer questions, and coffee and cookies will be served.

Date: Tuesday December 1st
Time: 7:00 to 8:00 PM
Place: Coho Ecovillage Common House
            1975 SE Crystal Lake Drive
            Corvallis, OR 97333


What’s New In 2009?


Lower Interest Rates On Our Loans!
AHIC raised over $100,000 to purchase the unit in CoHo Ecovillage. We also received three loans, two of which are interest bearing. We are pleased to report that the 7.5% loan from OSU Federal Credit Unit has been replaced by a private loan at 3.5% interest ($45,000). The private lenders of our second loan have graciously decreased their interest rate from 5.9% to 4.0% ($45,000). These lowered interest rates will mean a savings of over $2500 in the first year alone. Our third loan remains unchanged, a $20,000 zero-interest loan from the City of Corvallis on which no payments are due until 2011, when the full amount will be paid over the course of five years.

Mike Can Now Open His Own Door!
With no voluntary movement below his neck, our first renter, Mike Volpe, has always needed assistance to enter or leave his CoHo home. Thanks to a grant from the Blanche Fisher Foundation, a contribution from AHIC, and donated labor for installation, Mike now has the benefit of an Open Sesame. This allows him to open and close his door by using his mouth to press a button on his wheelchair. We’ve been hoping to add this feature since Mike moved in, and are delighted that’s it’s now in place.

AHIC Encourages Other Cohousing Communities to Consider Visitability Features
As part of our effort to expand the impact of our work, AHIC Board members presented a breakout session on Building An Inclusive Community at the 2009 National Cohousing Conference, held in Seattle in June. We are arranging to repeat the presentation in Corvallis this year – stay tuned for details! We are especially interested in encouraging newly forming communities to consider visitability features in their early planning.

Fundraiser a Huge Success
On August 8, 2009, AHIC held a fundraising event at CoHo that included a garage sale, silent auction, 50/50 raffle, face painting, bake sale, and music. Its success exceeded our expectations, bringing in over $3,500. Donations in the mail brought an additional $1,500.

Karen Contant was the happy winner of $136 in the 50/50 raffle.

We would particularly like to thank the following local businesses for their support of the silent auction: American Dream Pizza, Animal Crackers, Beaded Hair Barrettes, Bombs Away, Browser’s Book Store, Burst’s Candies, Cloud Nine, Contagious Laughter, Country Vitamins, CrawforDesign, Electric Beach, FireWorks, First Alternative Co-op, Footwise, Gracewinds, Grassroots, Great Harvest Bread Company, Leading Floral Company, Many Hands Trading, Nearly Normals, Oregon Home Grown Gardens, The Pottery Place, Replay Children's Wear, Robnett's Hardware, Squirrel’s, Starbucks, and Sunnyside Up.

It was a joy to see so many people working together to make this happen. Dozens of friends, neighbors, and AHIC supporters pitched in to organize and run the event. People we barely knew kept driving up to donate items! It was a fun, happy event, the proceeds of which will all go toward paying off our loans so that the CoHo unit will always be available for a low-income person with a physical disability.

Mike’s Comments on Life at CoHo
During my first year living at CoHo, my energies were largely directed toward getting used to living in my new home. One immediate difference that I noticed was a tremendous amount of interaction that occurred between the residents. Unlike my previous living situations, the residents at CoHo were very interested in getting to know the other people that live here. I have greatly enjoyed this interaction. A number of residents play a variety of musical instruments so I’ve been treated to spontaneous musical concerts. I’ve also been treated to some fabulous meals, many of which included dishes I had never tried.

My second year finds me more at home in my new community. One highlight has been the community garden. I had never grown vegetables before, so I was able to glean some knowledge from the other residents who were experienced gardeners. I was able to harvest many vegetables from my own garden including squash, broccoli, pea pods and tomatoes. I also canned tomatoes for the first time in my life. I have enjoyed a feeling of permanence in this living situation which I’ve never experience during my adult life. I still have the challenges of living in a community where a great majority of residents participate in activities that I no longer can. I do feel very welcomed by this community, which helps dramatically with these challenges.



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