Re: Reserving units for families
From: Diana Carroll (dianaecarrollgmail.com)
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2021 09:43:39 -0700 (PDT)
I think an interesting discussion isn't how to legally prevent families
without children from moving in, but how to market to families with
children.

Sharon mentions building play areas, which is a great idea. Another idea is
to add a lot of kid programming -- a babysitting co-op, kid dance parties,
outings, etc.

Mosaic Commons has always provided childcare for general meetings, since
long before move-in. That was a very popular option for many parents of
young children (including myself, way back when). We also lucked out
finding a meeting space at the Boys and Girls Clubs, where there was a play
room right next to the meeting room. That's probably not feasible for most
groups, but if you can do that, it works great.

If you don't have enough kids in the community to sustain these kid
activities, it might be worth connecting with your larger town community.
Extend the babysitting coop -- advertise on the bulletin board of the local
elementary school. Make your community a "destination" for nearby families
with kids: put on a Halloween event, host scout meetings in your common
house.

Diana
Mosaic Commons, Berlin, MA

PS: Remember that families without kids are still families. Love makes a
family, not the presence of minors. If what you mean is families with kids,
call it that :)


On Thu, Mar 18, 2021 at 12:25 PM Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> > On Mar 17, 2021, at 7:06 PM, Elizabeth Grant <beeegrant [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > River Song Cohousing in Eugene, OR is seeking input from communities
> that have reserved units for families.
>
> I don’t think there is any way to do this legally even though some people
> may do it. Discouraging a household with children from moving in is
> definitely illegal.
>
> The advice on the list for years has been if you want more children in the
> community, build things to attract them — or that their caregivers believe
> will attract them. Play areas indoors and outdoors. Game rooms, balls,
> badminton, etc.
>
> Another poster mentioned communities not wanting more old women. Problem —
> those are the people looking for community. And they are the hard workers
> with fewer distractions — having babies, losing jobs, parents dying, etc.
> Interestingly it was not always the case that women lived longer than men.
> Even though there are slightly more male babies born,  the death rate for
> men in the later decades of life is much greater. As people live longer the
> greater the ratio of women to men.
>
> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10902048/
>
> Sharon
> ———
> Sharon Villines
> "Affordable means 30% of income, not 80% of someone else’s."
> http://affordablecohousing.com
>
>
>
>
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