Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Discrimination (for any reason)

[Raines Cohen (rc2-coho-L]

On 2/19/03 4:17 PM, sbraun <sbraun [at] gmavt.net> wrote:

>I keep coming back to this thought: In the US, it isn't defensible to
>bar anyone from housing for *any* reason having to do with race, age,
>religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. It's illegal.

Beware the dreaded blanket statement! This appears to be largely true, 
but with one (narrow) exception, well-explained here, courtesy of the 
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

http://www.hud.gov/groups/55older.cfm

>Housing Opportunities for Families
> 
>Unless a building or community qualifies as housing for older persons, it 
>may not discriminate based on familial status. That is, it may not 
>discriminate against families in which one or more children under 18 live 
>with [...] A parent [or designated custodian... some text omitted]
>
>Exemption: Housing for older persons is exempt from the prohibition 
>against familial status discrimination if:
>
>*      The HUD Secretary has determined that it is specifically designed for 
>and occupied by elderly persons under a Federal, State or local government 
>program or 
>*      It is occupied solely by persons who are 62 or older or 
>*      It houses at least one person who is 55 or older in at least 80 percent 
>of the occupied units, and adheres to a policy that demonstrates an intent 
>to house persons who are 55 or older. 

A cohousing community COULD qualify under this last exemption (heck, 
Swan's coho almost qualifies based on %age of units with at least one 
person 55 or older) - it comes down to a question of intent.

I'd be very interested in hearing Chuck weigh in on this topic... I  
believe he wrote an article in an issue of the Cohousing journal last 
year about the work he's doing specifically designing Senior cohousing... 
designed to not only qualify for the above exemption but to be eligible 
for zoning/financial incentives specifically targeting that audience.

Raines

Raines Cohen <my initials,2,dash,coho,dash,L at my first name .com>

  Member, Swan's Market Coho [Oakland, CA] <http://www.swansway.com/>
Hanging out in the Common House with various neighbors dropping by, 
getting a lot of work done.

  Member, Berkeley [CA] Cohousing (moving by bicycle!)
Where we're almost all moved.

  Facilitator, East Bay Cohousing [on hiatus] <http://www.ebcoho.org/>
Glad to hear that the Coho with a Clubhouse folks had a good meeting with 
the Hanover Ecovillage.

  Boardmember, The Cohousing Network <http://www.cohousing.org/>
Looking forward to seeing you at the Boulder conference, Jun 19-22!


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