Eco Village Co-op

09/05/2026

Two years ago I launched the Eco Village Co-op. It's come a long way, and getting closer to reality every day:

✅️ 9/4/2024 - Website launched and Social Media platforms claimed.

✅️ 9/4/2024 - Started looking for land and doing general research on current affordable housing solutions.

✅️ October 2024 - Started research on tiny home potential and intentional community concepts and potential. Discovered lots of interest but very few actual communities in the USA... some here and there around the world, that were being noticed. It seemed flying under the radar was the norm, probably to avoid negative attention.

✅️ December 2024 - Learned the 'Tiny Home' had a negative connotation associated with post civil war shacks that ex-slaves had to lived in, it was a more humane name that owners used. Started using the terms 'cottage home' and 'cottage home cluster community'.

✅️ January 2025 - Started looking for land and becoming familiar with Michigan rules and regulations.

✅️ March 2025 - Zeroed in on the northern lower peninsula, westside of Michigan because of the diverse economic opportunities in the area. Quickly discovered that affordable homes in the larger towns and anything on a 'lake' was overpriced and in many cases a second home meca or a 'short term rental' jungle.

✅️ May 2025 - Started to zero in on the senior affordable housing crisis. Learned lots of details: 42K seniors in Michigan living on $2K or less per month. The State and the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) had determined the need for 118K affordable homes, in general. There was no funding and most of the ideas were stale and centered around large apartments and classic dense pack ghetto like Section 8 solutions...

✅️ June 2025 - Targeted the Traverse City area, within a 30 mile radius. Identified concerns seniors had about: access to services, grocery stores, emergency medical access (15 minute maximum response time), roads, infrastructure, and the general cost of living in the area.

✅️ July 2025 - Started to configure a realistic concept that pulled all of the research and problems together, for a quad/four plex solution to get maximum return on investment and the highest quality of life for the smallest investment.

❇️ Micromanufacturing of high efficiency Structural Insulted Panels (SIPs) on-site using a system developed by a Canadian partner. The walls will have an R40 insulation rating, with the ceiling roof panels at R60.

❇️ Use the slab-on-grade foundation method for the integration of geothermal heating and cooling. I built four home in Pagosa Spings with s-o-g and infloor heating and thermal mass. This got great national recognition from USDA Rural Development for the passive solar integration that was also planned and integrated in the general home design.

❇️ Started serious research on wind and solar on-site potential. Discovered Sludge Hammer in Petoskey for the best on-site anaerobic waste water management system.

✅️ August 2025 - Found ten acres with a 1,500 SqFt pole barn, 400 SqFt shed, 200 Amp electric service on-site, a good well, and beautiful forests and open meadows!

✅️ August 12th, 2025 - Placed the offer to buy the 'Open Meadows' property.

✅️ August 14th, 2025 - The offer was accepted ($20K below asking price)!

✅️ September 14th, 2025 - Closed on the first Eco Village Co-op property!

✅️ September - October 2025:

❇️ Organized the Board of Directors from interested and motivated like minded individuals (from Facebook, and specifically the Eco Village Co-op Group).

❇️ Regestered the EVC with the state of Michigan as a Non-profit Cooperative Housing Corporation.

❇️ November 2025 - March 2026 - Worked on grants, networking, made contact with USDA RD, MSHDA, and other housing related non-profit entities.

❇️ Applied for 501(c)3 licensing with the IRS and got the EIN number.

❇️ April 2026 - Lily and I took up residence on site, and are living in an RV inside of the pole barn.

❇️ Summer 2026 - Somewhat frustrated with the government processes, excessive time required, misdirections, even though every contact made was very encouraging and wished the best out for the potential, even though they couldn't help much.

❇️ July 11, 2026 - The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644) is a bipartisan federal law was passed, designed to increase housing supply, reduce regulatory burdens, and address housing affordability in the United States.

❇️ Early Agust 2026 - Paid for the development and rendering of the EVC Fourplex, making us 'shovel ready'.

❇️ Mid August 2026 - Visted the Rapid River Zoning and Planning Department to share current status. Referencing the 'four bedroom four bathroom' home, and shared the floorplan. Got an open offering to come to the site after we get it 'stacked out' for preliminary approval and building permit.

❇️ Late August 2026 - Established local banking for the EVC.

❇️ Early September 2026 - Finnalized the application for a $324K grant we hope to receive!

~

08/07/2026

Please sign our Change.org Petition to make it easier to build Affordable Senior Cohousing Fourplex Communities!

https://www.change.org/p/make-affordable-cohousing-fourplexes-easier-to-build?recruiter=1394212135&recruited_by_id=021af410-b992-11f0-a919-8f0a9f7a410f&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=starter_onboarding_share_social&utm_medium=copylink&share_id=pwfYZqtmzQ

Make affordable cohousing fourplexes easier to build

08/06/2026

Fewer Young Americans Own Homes Than We Thought—Co-ops and Eco Villages Are the Way Forward

New Federal Reserve research just revealed that only 53% of U.S. adults actually own the home they live in—not the 65% we’ve been told.

For adults under 35, the picture is worse: once you count all the young people living in their parents’ homes, only 22% truly own a home.

This isn’t a personal failure story. It’s a system failure.

A third of adults under 35 now live with their parents because housing is too expensive and student debt is crushing.

The old model—“go to college, get a job, buy a single-family house”—no longer matches economic reality.

That’s why we’re building something different in Michigan.

At Eco Village Co‑op in Mancelona, we’re creating a quad/fourplex cohousing model that gives students, seniors, and working families a path to real cooperative ownership under $150K per attainable home.

Our approach:

Cooperative ownership instead of speculative, investor-driven housing—residents own shares in a nonprofit co-op that holds the land and buildings.

Eco-village infrastructure with renewable energy, geodesic growing domes, and regenerative gardens to cut monthly costs and increase self-reliance.

Purpose-built cohousing for seniors and students: private units for dignity and safety, shared amenities for community and mutual support.

If the new homeownership numbers tell us anything, it’s this:

We don’t just need more units—we need new ownership models that work for debt-burdened young adults and fixed-income elders.

Eco villages and cooperatives are living laboratories for that future, and Eco Village Co‑op is proving that it can be done right here in rural Michigan.

If you’re a student, senior, or local leader who wants to help build the next generation of attainable, community-owned housing, let’s connect.

👉 Learn more: ecovillageco-op.org

👉 Message us to get involved in our first proof-of-concept community in Mancelona, MI.

Build attainable homeownership in Michigan's Eco Village Co-op. Sustainable fourplex cohousing & renewable energy. "The more we share, the more we all have."

07/27/2026

Wednesday, July 29th, we have our panel meeting with USDA Rural Development. *Many people have been skeptical about the 1% interest rate I have been claiming we can get, based on my previous experience working with the USDA RD Self-Help Build program in SW Colorado (I built a dozen homes and was a Construction Supervisor & Manager).

*We own the property!

07/11/2026

We now have our first architectural rendering of the EVC Quad/Fourplex Cohousing (~2,333 sqft).

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

06/24/2026

Indeed ~

06/22/2026

A Blog Post from our website ~

In a healthy body, blood flows. In a healthy society, money does the same thing. When cash moves through communities as wages, purchases, investments, and taxes, it nourishes families, small businesses, public schools, clinics, and the ecosystems we depend on. When wealth is hoarded and hidden inste...

06/05/2026

The emotional “high” of getting a bargain is brief, but the frustration of things breaking, underperforming, or causing headaches can last for years.

In housing, infrastructure, and community projects, it’s almost a law of physics.
Cheap materials, weak partners, or cut‑rate services show up later as maintenance problems, safety risks, or legal/organizational messes that cost far more to fix than doing it right from the start.

05/16/2026

There are some simple geothermal systems that can be installed in the growing dome(s).