Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Work or Pay Systems

[Tim Mensch (tim-coho-l]

Sharon Villines wrote:
> On Jul 27, 2008, at 6:01 PM, David Mandel wrote:
>
> >    In my view, it becomes particularly insidious when the discussion  
> > leads to a policy of "work or pay" as an individual "choice," as if  
> > everyone truly has the same degree of choice. The result in an  
> > economically diverse community can easily devolve into a microcosmic  
> > class divide. 
>
> This has often been raised as a concern, usually as a justification  
> for not allowing people to pay at all. 
It's important to be sure that there are people in a category you're 
trying to protect. One community used to live at had hours of debate 
trying to come up with a way to support the unfortunate folks who had 
neither time nor money to contribute. The arguments were intense and 
emotional. Then someone asked: Which members are we trying to protect? 
When a survey was completed, we determined that there were no members in 
that group--we were debating on how to protect a hypothetical group that 
didn't in fact exist.

It wasn't the first time I'd seen that pattern in cohousing--the 
knee-jerk urge to protect all groups, without actually verifying that 
the groups you're protecting are actually represented in the community. 
I think it's a good philosophy, in cohousing at least, to either only be 
your own advocate, or only advocate for specific individuals who you 
know need your help (because you've talked to them). It's hard enough to 
make decisions based on how the result will affect you; if you're trying 
to decide based on how you imagine someone else, either a hypothetical 
or actual member, might want things to be, you're making the problem 
harder than it needs to be. For one thing, you can know if a compromise 
will address your concerns--but it's much harder to know whether it will 
help someone else's.

I think the opposite conclusion--NO ONE has to work, nor do they need to 
pay--is more humane: Spread the community maintenance costs evenly among 
all members, instead of trying to penalize folks for not putting in 
work. The costs to handle all jobs that weren't being done under the 
existing system in a previous community were estimated at 
$6-$12/month/household. I would hope that any homeowner should be able 
to afford an expense of that magnitude--and if there are folks who 
really can't, then grant exceptions based on need. In fact, for 
affordable (below-market, deed-restricted) units, the entire HOA dues 
structure could be lower, to enhance actual affordability. That's really 
an orthogonal (unrelated) problem that can be solved separately.

--
Tim Mensch

Currently at Wild Sage (Boulder, CO): http://www.wildsagecohousing.org

Moving out! Our unit is for sale! http://1635yellowpine.com