I purchased a house on a quiet (or so I thought) residential street, that houses a cooperative housing project (coop). This is a normal ranch house like the one I purchased, yet this one was transformed with government grants into a Frankenstein house that now is allowed to have 16 low-income residents instead of the typical 2-4 middle class residents per house. This also means there are 12 or more cars associated with the coop. One impact is that even when the rest of the neighbors typically just use one off-street parking space, parking is in short supply on this block, in a city where parking is generally not a problem in low density residential zoning districts.
As one city councilman expressed, the city had created a rule that limits the coop occupants to just 5 cars, two of which are to be parked on premises, and only three of which are allowed off street. This rule was specifically created to appease neighbors concerned about the coop impact on housing values, parking and quality of life.
However, this rule turns out to be utterly un-enforceable. Coop residents are highly nomadic, rotate in and out continuously out of tiny rented rooms as small as 93 square feet that are rented for about $300/month These residents often have out of state license plates or vehicle registrations linked to prior addresses or family members and it is utterly impossible for anyone, even code/parking enforcement to reliably detect which vehicles are associated with the coop to enforce this rule. This municipality is very committed not just being a town for the wealthy, so they are willing to create and fund overcrowded houses that allow low income people to live in a city where market rents for the standard of rentals private for-profit landlords are required to uphold are higher than these occupants claim to be able to afford.
Ultimately this coop appears to lower property values about 5-10% on the particular crescent road it is located on.
This is not a diatribe against coops or low-income housing, but simply a warning to investors to factor in quality of life impacts and value impacts when purchasing. The next blocks never have parking issues. This coop block is consistently a challenge to park in.
Do not be caught unaware as an investor when that house that looks relatively unassuming as you drive by unveils itself as having the same number of habitants as the surrounding 5 or 6 houses, which in this case means the coop has the same amount of cars as 1/3 of the rest of your block. Factor your neighborhood into your purchasing decision and the value and appreciation impacts a coop may create.