Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Policies for guests on property

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

Oh, one more thought, not on guests but on residents: you may run afoul of
the law here if you aren't careful. Housing discrimination is illegal.
 What qualifies as "illegal discrimination" varies by state, I believe, but
certainly includes things like race and religion, and may include things
like veteran status, sexual orientation, prior criminal record, family or
marital status, etc.  These are things that may be revealed in
your "background check", and just having DONE such a check makes
you vulnerable to claims that you used the information you found to deny
housing on the basis of some protected status.  Employers, I know, have to
be SUPER careful about what sort of information they gather on applicants,
lest they give the appearance of having discriminatory hiring practices.  I
imagine housing providers must be similarly careful.

I'm not a lawyer...but I'd highly recommend checking with a lawyer familiar
with housing discrimination laws in your state before implementing your
background check plan.

Diana

On Saturday, April 5, 2014, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> Second everything ann says.
>
> But I notice that your question wasn't about background checks for
> residents, which it seems you have already decided on...but for -guests-?
>
> At the risk of being offensive, I will say: that's just bizarre.
>
> I'm not even sure what kind of background check you mean.  Sexual offender
> registry?  Criminal record?  (In MA this is called a CORI and is required,
> for example, for anyone who will be working with children). Credit report?
>  Online services that charge $30 to aggregate data from public
> records? Hire an agency to pore over all public public records?  Hire
> a Private investigator to follow someone?
>
> Even the simplest of those (sexual offender registry which is publicly
> available online) requires knowing someone's full name and town.  Will your
> residents be submitting this information about their visiting guests before
> they visit? In MA, CORIs require a signed release; I assume similar laws
> exist in other states.  Are you thinking to ask your residents to acquire
> said release for their friends and family before they visit?  I'm kind of
> slack jawed at the thought.
>
> We at Mosaic Commons have no rules about who can visit and who can't.  We
> have rules everyone is expected to comply with about things like smoking
> and pets, but in terms of who is allowed on "campus"?  No one has ever
> suggested screening guests, and my red card is twitching just thinking
> about it.  If someone here is breaking the law, we can call the cops.  If
> they break one of our rules, maybe we'd ask them to leave.  If there's some
> legal reason they aren't allowed here - a restraining order, say - then we
> should call the cops and let law enforcement enforce the law.  other than
> that...our residents can invite whoever they please to visit them.
>
> Diana
>
> On Saturday, April 5, 2014, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] 
> earthlink.net<javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','zabaldo [at] earthlink.net');>>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> John --- this has come up on this list in the past.  Have you checked the
>> archives?  You can check by key word.
>>
>> What is propelling this discussion of background checks?  Have you had a
>> problem w/ people joining your group in the past?  What are some of the
>> issues being raised?
>>
>> Speaking personally, I cannot imagine doing a background check on a
>> future neighbor.  That kind of thinking destroys everything I consider to
>> be sacred about and the promise of cohousing.  It's worse than a gated
>> community.  While surely we all get "characters" in our communities ... how
>> would we ever avoid that?
>>
>> If you are worried about sexual predators you can check w/ on line
>> services for that.
>>
>> What will be the criteria for accepting or rejecting a household based on
>> a background check?  Multiple marriages?  Sticky divorces? Not paying bills
>> on time? (I've missed payments.)   Back taxes owed?   (I got walloped one
>> year for not taking out enough taxes so I owed a bundled.  Paid it off over
>> time.)  Served time for drug abuse?  Lost job?  (How many of us have been
>> in THAT situation?)
>>
>> Doing a "background" check is going to uncover a whole lot of information
>> hat you may not even be considering.  Are you REALLY comfortable knowing
>> this info about your neighbors?  Who will see this information?  Everyone
>> currently "in" the group?
>>
>> Here's a guideline:  Are the persons currently in the group going to have
>> background checks?   Is everyone in the group comfortable with having
>> everyone else "know their business?"   If you find out something about the
>> people currently in your group are you booting them out?
>>
>> >From a strictly marketing and outreach perspective ... my mind boggles at
>> what the branding would be:
>>
>> Join our cohousing community!
>> Know your neighbors!
>> Background check required!
>>
>> I'm not being glib -- I think this is a serious issue.  Where in your
>> outreach process are you going to tell prospective members they have to
>> have a background check?  First meeting? Who would come back?   Second
>> meeting?  Once they are really invested in the community and suddenly are
>> informed of this?  How many pissed off people will you have?  It would feel
>> like "bait and switch" to me.
>>
>> If fear is driving your community at this stage then fear may end up
>> driving your future.   The norms and conditions you establish early on are
>> difficult to change later.  Really difficult.
>>
>> I acknowledge people's need for safety.  Will background checks provide
>> that?
>>
>> I'd be looking at what's going on in the group rather than what's going
>> on  "out there."
>>
>> Best --
>>
>> Ann Zabaldo
>> Takoma Village Cohousing
>> Washington, DC
>> Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
>> Falls Church VA
>> 703-688-2646
>>
>> On Apr 5, 2014, at 10:00 AM, johnrichmond50 <johnrichmond50 [at] hotmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > Hello folks - a belated thank you to those who responded to the
>> questions regarding electoral representation.
>> >
>> > Another question - there is a groundswell within our group in favor of
>> background checks for future residents and renters. Given that, what are
>> the policies of your communities regarding checks on guests on your
>> properties? If there's something we're missing with checks on residents you
>> can address that too.
>> >
>> > Thank you, Happy Saturday -
>> >
>> > John Richmond
>> > Richmond Cohousing
>> > Sent from my Galaxy S(R)III
>> > _________________________________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
>>
>>
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