Oh, I didn't mean "how are we going to pay for this", I meant "who's going to be paying for this", and your answer is apparently "everyone with money, by way of

Oh, I didn't mean "how are we going to pay for this", I meant "who's going to be paying for this", and your answer is apparently "everyone with money, by way of government". That's not exactly charity and coops anymore. The only reason to favor government construction over private construction is that it'll be subsidized for the poor, unless you somehow think the government will be better at building apartments than a private developer. (Whether that be a coop, charity or for-profit, they all have incentives to make things actually work while not breaking the bank - the government generally doesn't)