Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Do any communities defer dues?

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

 I love the "Brother can you spare a dime" Fund.  It really shows the 
compassion I hope communities can developer for people in need or times of 
stress. 

Katie 
-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
www.cohousing-solutions.com


On 8/6/19, 8:51 AM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of fergyb2 via Cohousing-L" 
<cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on 
behalf of cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

     At Swans Market we established a “Brother can you spare a dime” fund 
during the 2008 financial meltdown when we worried about what might happen if 
someone couldn’t pay their HOA fees.  There wasn’t much appetite for the 
traditional remedy of fines and liens on property.  Each household contributed 
an extra $10 a month for about a year to establish it.  The fund is 
administered by the treasurer and it’s available to make interest free loans to 
households who have a temporary cash flow problem (usually due to job loss or 
illness) to cover HOA fees.  It’s been accessed several times over the years 
and has always been repaid.  We often discuss eliminating it but so far have 
always decided to keep it as is.  It seems to work well as a kind of community 
insurance program.  
         I would worry that outright forgiveness of HOA dues would breed 
resentments within the Community over time, due to the extra financial burden 
everyone else would have to carry.
            Bonnie Fergusson
           Swans Market Cohousing
           Oakland CA