RE: House Pricing in House Selection Process
From: Mike Adams (mmadamswheel.ucdavis.edu)
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 94 23:16 CDT

On Mon, 22 Aug 1994, Rob Sandelin wrote:

> David Hungerford wrote:
>
>text omitted
> 
>...Do you really want
> to move into a community that has a pre-defined pecking order based on
> income?
> ____________________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> I don't get the pecking order analogy here.  Whether I have a million 
> dollars, or can barely pay my mortgage has no effect on my relationship 
> to the community.
>
> text omitted
> 
> As long as participation is equal, that is my higher priced unit gives 
> me no more say or voting power than a lower priced unit, then the 
> economics of it should be used to benefit the commons.  Economic 
> egalitarianism is in my opinion something which can lead a group into 
> some bad decisions. For example if you make a bunch of design decisions 
> based on the lowest economic denominator, in order to keep members in 
> who have lower incomes, you may be unnecessarily limiting  everybody's 
> choices.
> 
> text omitted
>
> Rob Sandelin
> Sharingwood
> 
I think that your response oversimplifies the situation in a cohousing 
community with respect to disparities in wealth and income.  Allocating 
resources ( like housing ) by price is efficient only if money can act as 
a proxy for the utility that someone will get from what is bought.  But 
if in the same community you have families with four children living in 
two bedroom units because that is what they can afford, and childless 
couples living in four bedroom units, I think that it can effect the 
dynamics of the community.  

And while nominally everyone has the same "power" (just as in this 
country it is one person one vote) money provides an individual options 
(like spending millions on tv campaign ads) that aren't available to 
everyone.  In the cohousing environment, that may mean that assessments 
are less of a burden, or that you can pay rather than personally doing 
all of your allotted tasks.  I don't know that there is an easy anwer for 
a better way.  I just think that David's concern is valid in the context 
of living, working, and playing in close contact with your neighbors.

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