But is that true? You live in Baltimore, which if not as expensive as NYC or SF, is still a big city, and most people don't live in big cities, yes?
[WS:] Cooperatives do not just happen, it is people who build them. Why is it OK to talk baldly about changing society, abolishing capitalism etc., but then adopting "cannot-do" attitude about something that can and has been done. See for example http://www.chc.coop/ http://www.coophousing.org/
As the above sites will tell you, there are cooperatives across the US - so it is possible to establish them. All that it takes it to think outside the box of the "American Dream" peddled by the developers and mortgage industry. I cannot se any reason why people in small towns etc, cannot band together and form a coop. It is even easier than doing so in big cities, because real estate is cheaper in small places than in big cities.
My cooperative (Washington Hill Mutual Homes) was formed in the 1970s by a bunch of activists (including the local Communist Howard Silverberg who passed away some three years ago http://www.pww.org/article/view/3600/1/167/ http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=3421 ) as an alternative to both public housing and individual home ownership. There were no "systemic obstacles" - in fact we got a HUD loan (paid off by now.) We offer decent self-governed housing at a fraction of what it cost to buy or even rent. I do not see why this cannot be replicated in any place in the US - except the obsession with the 'American dream' which feeds the pig of real estate brokers and money lenders.
Wojtek