Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: associate members

[Diana Carroll (dianaecarroll]

LOL, yes Liz, you know me well, I am in fact avoiding work. :)

Maggi, having membership for residents/owners revoked, absolutely not. You
live here, you pay condo fees, you have a full right to belong, end of
story.

Your other question is slightly more complicated. At Mosaic Commons, we
have actually broken the organization of our community it into two
entities.  We have an HOA/condo association, which handles stuff like
maintenance of the grounds and buildings, plowing, insurance...all the
stuff any condo would have, whether it is cohousing or not. And then we
have a cohousing group, which handles community related stuff -- shared
meals, furnishings for the common areas, social events, conflict
resolution, etc.

Membership in the HOA is limited to *owners*, and you are just
automatically a "member" by simply owning here, by the very definition of
what a condominium is legally. In fact, technically, it's not
"memberships", it's co-ownership -- everyone who owns a home owns a
proportional part of the common property. I assume this is true for every
cohousing community that is organized as a condominium.

Membership in the cohousing group is optional. All residents, including
owners and renters, can become full members (not associates) automatically
but they don't have to. So far I think all *resident* owners have chosen to
be cohousing members, but we do have some owners who aren't residents --
they rent their homes, or their adult offspring live in the homes, and in
those situations, those owners COULD choose to join but don't. We have had
some renters who choose not to join the cohousing group, but most do --
being part of the community is a big part of why people want to live here.

Affiliates are specifically part of the cohousing group. There is no
equivalent to affiliate in the HOA, again, it wouldn't make sense by
definition. We *do *have a process for removing affiliates. We haven't
needed to do so yet, but the policy page I linked to earlier explains the
process.

hope this helps.

Diana

On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 11:27 AM Elizabeth Magill <pastorlizm [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Diana, Mosaic does actually have an affiliate who is in a relationship
> with one of our members--they (the affiliate) live in Camelot (the
> other coho community on our land).
>
> Alan, that affiliate would be a member if the person who lives in our
> community were to say "[name] is in my household and is a member."
> Then they'd be a member. But they haven't said that, they've instead
> had them join as an affiliate. (Which required that a second household
> *also* be the sponsor.)
>
> Maggi, residents *choose* whether to be members. Each household says
> "these are the members that live in my house".
> For renters they may be considered part the of the home they live in,
> or they may be members as their own household--usually the landlord
> decides which way that goes.
> For people who live here part-time (college students, partners,
> parents, etc.) the person who lives here all the time says "these are
> the members in this household".
>
> But a renter could not choose to be an affiliate. Affiliates don't
> live here, people who choose to be members are "members" if they live
> here.
>
> To be clear this is much easier than it sounds.
>
> I do not believe we have a way to remove members? Maybe Diana is
> avoiding work even more than I am and could look that up.
>
> Liz
>
> On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 11:01 AM Maggi <librarymaggi [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Diana, you say that residents are automatically considered to be members.
> > Are there any situations in your community where a resident would not be
> > considered to be a member, or could have their membership revoked?
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 10:41 AM Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] 
> > gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > No, by definition, affiliates are non-residents.  Residents
> automatically
> > > get full membership.  Affiliate membership has limitations, like they
> can
> > > come to meetings and participate in discussion, but if something comes
> to a
> > > vote, they don't get to vote.
> > >
> > > Like Liz said, we do not try to decide who is a resident. That's up to
> the
> > > household. In fact, once a year we survey -- who do you consider part
> of
> > > your household for the purposes of membership? We don't consider it
> our job
> > > to verify or second guess. No one really cares -- you are who you say
> you
> > > are.
> > >
> > > As far as I know, we have never had the situation of a romantic
> > > relationship where the partner was an affiliate. Doesn't mean we
> wouldn't
> > > do it, but it just hasn't been a thing. We've had non-romantic family
> > > related memberships (moms are popular :D ), but I think, if memory
> serves,
> > > that those family members lived in Camelot, our "sister" community who
> > > shares our land, so that's a different situation.
> > >
> > > Diana
> > >
> > >
> > > On Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 10:26 AM Alan O'Hashi <adoecos [at] yahoo.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Diana et al. - Thanks for your responses. Do Affilliates / Associates
> > > live
> > > > in your community or do they live elsewhere and participate in your
> > > > community?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > I'm also interested in learning how a community decides that an
> > > occasional
> > > > guest such as a boyfriend or girlfriend who stays overnight regularly
> > > > becomes a resident.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Are your associate / affiliate membership categories tied to
> household
> > > > romantic relationship status (do personfriends ever join as
> associates /
> > > > affiliates to 'test drive' community life)
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Thx
> > > >
> > > > Alan O.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > *Alan O'Hashi **Get Up Off the Couch*
> > > > www.alanohashi.com
> > > > www.getupoffthecouch.com
> > > > CO: 303-910-5782 ....
> > > > WY: 307-316-2113 ..
> > > > NE: 402-327-1652 ....
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 01:52:42 AM MDT, Diana Carroll <
> > > > dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Adding on to what Liz said about Mosaic’s affiliates.
> > > >
> > > > Alan asked how we decide when someone has crossed from visitor to
> > > > affiliate. Our policy (after lots of discussion) is that an
> affiliate is
> > > > proposed by two “sponsors”. So it’s an active decision by the
> potential
> > > > affiliate and their sponsors. Also while that transition sometimes
> is as
> > > > you describe— they hang around for awhile and then find they want
> to.be
> > > > more involved — in fact the majority of our affiliates are people who
> > > used
> > > > to live here, and/or residents of our “sister” cohousing group with
> whom
> > > we
> > > > share land.
> > > >
> > > > Here’s the actual policy.
> > > > https://www.mosaic-commons.org/affiliates
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Apr 20, 2021 at 10:25 PM Elizabeth Magill <
> pastorlizm [at] gmail.com>
> > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > In terms of people who sometimes live in the community, it is up to
> > > > the owner to decide who is a member of their household. So if they
> say
> > > > someone is part of their household and are members then they are
> > > > members.
> > > >
> > > > For people who don't live here, we have a category called
> "affiliates"
> > > > for people who want to have the privileges and responsibilities of
> > > > membership. They pay 5% of our average dues (we have a sliding scale)
> > > > and help with work and with the fun.
> > > >
> > > > We have called this thing associates, and then we changed it to
> friend
> > > > and now it is affiliate. Calling it a "friend" was a mistake, some
> > > > people thought that everyone who was their friend should be made
> > > > one---really, we want everyone to feel free to invite friends
> anytime.
> > > > Affiliate status costs money and has a [slight] commitment.
> > > >
> > > > Liz at Mosaic commons, Berlin, MA.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> > >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> -Liz
> (The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
> Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
> Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
> www.elizabethmaemagill.com
> 508-450-0431
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