Re: How do communities deal with members who can't pay their condo fees or assessments?
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 12:08:50 -0800 (PST)
> On Feb 11, 2016, at 12:47 PM, fergyb2 via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
> cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> At Swans Market Cohousing we worried about that issue back in 2008/9 when 
> there was that big financial meltdown and two members of our Community got 
> laid off.  We agreed to create a fund we call the "Can You Spare A Dime" fund 
> which we funded by every household pitching in an extra $10 a month for a 
> while.  We stopped contributing when we reached $2000.  The fund is available 
> for emergency no interest loans to households who might have temporary 
> difficulty paying their Condo fees for whatever reason.

We do have enough flexibility and emergency reserves in our budget so if a 
household was truly in crisis we could help.

John Carver raises a good point — it’s important to be clear about the 
distinction between crisis, a one time unpredictable event, and ongoing 
financial troubles that signal a person can’t afford to live in the community 
as they have been. That requires a solution other than loans or gifts. 
Fundamental changes need to be found. 

Some households here have rented rooms on an ongoing basis to pay their 
mortgage. A community could help a household financially to make structural 
changes to facilitate this and be repaid from a percentage of the rent. Or if 
the community can afford it, put a lien for the loan on their deed so the 
community is repaid when the unit is sold.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org





Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.