Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: The politics of cohousing

[Dave & Diane (coho]

Hi Matt,

I think you've hit the nail right on the head. Your first observation 
is the key: "it takes time for people to realize many of the issues and 
to formulate their own answers"--many a time a group will get together 
to create "cohousing" but they haven't come to a common agreement on 
what that means and consequently they can't solve any of the issues 
that flow from that. Where will they will build it? What kind of 
timeline assumptions are they working with? What kind of process are 
they talking about? (i.e. retrofit or build-from-scratch) How much 
money it will cost? What type of building(s) do they envision?

The first group I was in called itself "Jamaica Plain Cohousing 
Network" but we never talked about what that meant to us or what our 
timeline was for moving into this hypothetical community. We assumed we 
were on the same page when we were not. We discovered after the group 
broke up that of the three core households, one was looking for a place 
to move into within six months, one was looking for a place to move 
into within two years, one one was looking for a place to move into 
within 5-10 years down the road. We couldn't even agree on meeting 
frequency we had such widely divergent timetables.

I also learned after the group broke up that to me "Jamaica Plain 
Cohousing Network" meant we were definitely going to BUILDING in 
Jamaica Plain, but to others it simply meant that the group was founded 
in Jamaica Plain and we might build in Roslindale or Dorchester. (Other 
neighborhoods of Boston)

Doing EVERYTHING by consensus does not work unless you are talking 
about an extremely small project--perhaps if you had only three 
households and you were going to buy a 3-family and subdivide it maybe 
consensus would work--but first you'd have to get consensus on what is 
consensus!

The overall impression I get from reading your e-mail is that the group 
you are affiliated with has no professional guidance whatsover and is 
comprised largely of newbies who have never built so much as a 
birdhouse. If they had any idea of the cost, the amount of time and the 
potential risks associated with a housing construction project they 
would at least have consulted with a few builders or developers before 
starting out on this venture. It is possible to lose your entire life's 
savings in a cohousing project and to be sued for many times over your 
annual income if a disaster happens and you don't have the proper 
insurance in place. Many many moons ago, when doing some research on 
security issues for the security task force in our cohousing group I 
mailed a copy of our plans to our insurance agent. He called me and set 
up an appointment to talk to me. I thought he wanted to talk about the 
security gaps. WRONG! He pointed out the huge risks to which our 
project was vulnerable and pointed out that if we didn't have the 
proper coverage we could be sued for millions of dollars.

Of course, a cynical person will say "He was only trying to sell you 
insurance." Of course. I knew that. But it was also true that we lacked 
insurance coverage in many of the areas he noted. It's wise to heed 
professional advice once in awhile, particularly on a risky and 
dangerous adventure such as construction. I just did a Google search on 
"death rate by industry" and the top 3 were:
   F. DEATH RATE BY INDUSTRY
        1. MINING
        2. AGRICULTURE
        3. CONSTRUCTION

It's fine and dandy to learn how to get along with your shipmates but 
first you have to make sure you're on a ship that's not sinking. I 
believe if you do a search on the cohousing-l archives using the 
keyword "shipwrecks" you'll come up with a very long list of emails.

My final piece of advice? Drop out of this group, take some time off, 
think about what kind of cohousing YOU want to live in and how much 
money you want to spend to get there. Interview some builders, 
developers, construction managers (if you haven't already--you sound 
like the kind of guy who has.) Work behind the scenes to put together 
your own development/project management team. Then, when you're ready, 
get out there and form your OWN group. I bet you'll finish your project 
before the group you're in has even started building.

--Diane Simpson(:^]
JP COHOUSING  617-524-6614
P.O. BOX 420 BOSTON MASSACHUSETTS
HTTP://WWW.JPCOHOUSING.ORG
"One 4-bedroom left: ideal for communal house or home office!"

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
On Saturday, December 4, 2004, at 05:00 PM, Matt Lawrence wrote:

> These are some thoughts and observations on my experiences trying to 
> get involved with cohousing....it takes time for people to realize 
> many of the issues and to formulate their own answers...I got off to a 
> bad start when I objected to their desire to do _everything_ via 
> concensus...Then there was the family that insisted that they had to 
> have their unit for $80K....I made the mistake of mentioning that I 
> found the small children present to be a bit disruptive over the 
> course of a long meeting...When I joined, the stated goal was to build 
> in one particular part of town...I just recently noticed that they 
> have now realized that there may be an issue with differing income 
> levels and the common facilities or amenities that could be 
> available...I am much more interested in having the right answer at 
> the end of a discussion or meeting than I am with having it at the 
> beginning...  If I'm wrong about something, which isn't that unusual, 
> I want to know what and why...So, what do y'all think?