Cohousing-L Mailing List: Consensus in cohousing

[Becky Schaller (bschaller]

I've been thinking about consensus in cohousing communities and wondering if
it really is the best form of decision making.   I think it is part of the
definition of cohousing, but I still wonder.  What I see is sometimes large
numbers of people coming together who probably don't have much background in
consensus decision making.  They have varying degrees of time and
commitment.   It's not uncommon for people to want decisions to be made in a
timely manner.

I've also heard that for Quakers the faith component is a crucial part of
consensus.  Cohousing does not have this.

We have thirty-six households; we're finishing up three years of living
together; and we're still working on how to live by consensus.  Even simply
working out the decision making process seems to take a lot of work.

So my question is, How does consensus decision making work in communities
which have been in existence for some time?

If someone has been living in your community for five or more  years, would
you be willing to say if you still make decisions by consensus at group
meetings?   I realize there is a lot of ambiguity in this question, but
please feel free to elaborate on your answer.  I'm not asking if you decide
what kind of flowers to plant outside the common house by consensus, but do
you have a consensed upon process for deciding how these smaller decisions
get made.   Do you make major decisions by consensus  or have you consenses
or evolved into making even major decisions in a different way.

I'd like to know how decision making within cohousing communities has
evolved as people in the communities become more settled.

When you answer, would you also say how many households are in your
community.  I'm wondering if the size of the community also has something to
do with this.


Thanks,
Becky Schaller
Sonora Cohousing
Tucson, Arizona


_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L