Any local government, state government, public authority, non--profit foundation, or group of citizens can sponsor this process, by making a small cash investment, and by putting land in trust, for housing, with the understanding that it will be held by non--profit housing corporations, managed by the people who live in the houses, and cannot be bought or sold for speculation.
In return for these contributions, the sponsor will reap the following benefits:
1. On each site, a cluster of twelve houses will be designed and built by their owners. Each house will be ready for occupancy within a few month -- and will then grow steadily for the next several years.
2. The process will allow people to own their own houses, without a down payment, merely in return for a monthly payment which is about the same as a typical medium--low income monthly rent or mortgage payment.
3. The project will generate enough money to seed new clusters within the community, as often as the sponsor is willing to supply one acre of land, on the delayed purchase arrangement. In these later clusters, the sponsor is not expected to contribute any further cash sums.
4. The new clusters will grow at an extraordinary rate: so great, that after thirty years, the initial cluster has seeded 70 new clusters; after fifty years, the initial cluster has seeded 1600 new clusters. In short, an initial investment of $30,000 will generate about 20,000 houses in fifty years.
Obviously, there is no form of public housing known today, which can generate such an astonishing supply of houses for such a trifling investment. But the houses are not only cheaper. They are also better, more beautiful and much more profoundly grounded in human needs.
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