Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing vs "traditional" self-managed community

[Lisa Kuntz (lisa.kuntz]

That's a helpful perspective, Mariana.

What my community is doing is removing the dialogue piece and making it a
simple, very fact-based tour, kind of like a realtor's tour.

Previously, we were much more relaxed and conversational, but the new team
is going to be more oriented towards simple checklists, so there is little
room for error,

I feel like it's a move away from cohousing as I visualize it.

Lisa



On Wed, Jun 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM Mariana Almeida via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> Marketing a unit in cohousing is fraught in a fair housing context. You
> want to know a lot about people, but the fair housing law essentially wants
> you to know less (so you can discriminate less.)
> This is my POV, not a legal one, but here goes:
>    - If you say, "we want families with children" - this could be
> perceived as indirect discrimination on the basis of age (older people) or
> familial status (single).
>    - If you say, "we have labor requirements" - this could be perceived as
> disability discrimination.
>    - If you say, "we want racial diversity" - then you might be perceived
> as discriminating on the basis of color or race (for the race you want,
> even if it's a minority)
> I think it's possible to navigate this context, and get useful info from
> prospective people, if you're careful. For this reason, you may want to
> restrict who talks to the potential renters or owners so that they don't
> say the wrong things.
>
>    - I don't think there are any problem with saying, "we want a neighbor
> who will be friendly and participate in meals" because this doesn't seem to
> overlap with a protected class.
>    - You might be able to get away with describing demographics you have,
> and saying you have too much of it: "We have too many single white women
> over 50." Why: because you're not saying what protected class you don't
> want more of, lol.
>    - I think you're always safe describing who you are, but you go into
> unsafe territory if you're describing characteristics of who you want to
> move in.
> A safe approach is leaving things incredibly open-ended, such as a form
> that simply says: "tell me about you and anyone else in your household who
> would be living with you."
> I would love to hear from POVs from people on this important topic!
> Thanks,
> Mariana
>
> For reference, California -- my state -- protects renters and homebuyers
> from discrimination andharassment because of race, color, religion,
> national origin, ancestry, disability, sex,gender, gender identity, gender
> expression, sexual orientation, source of income,marital status, familial
> status, genetic information, age, immigration status, primarylanguage, or
> citizenship.
> https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2022/12/Housing-Rights-Booklet_English.pdf
>
>
>     On Monday, May 19, 2025 at 01:14:54 PM PDT, Sharon Villines via
> Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>
>  > On May 19, 2025, at 3:47 PM, Lisa Kuntz via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
> >
> > We are wondering how we can inform potential members of what to expect
> and
> > still be compliant with Fair Housing.
>
> Being compliant with Fair Housing is simple — don’t refuse potential
> residents because they are homosexual, black, have children, etc. All the
> people Trump and his father wouldn’t rent to.
>
> One of the warnings about coping with tyrannies is don’t comply in advance
> with an executive order or presidential declaration on TV that is illegal.
> What is going on now is that the administation is threatening violence so
> people will comply without having their orders declared illegal. They are
> unlikely to apply Fair Housing to anyone but you get the idea. They would
> if it served their puposes.
>
> The Fair Housing law doesn't say what you must do, only what you must not
> do. You must not cherry-pick buyers to avoid living with people in the
> classes protected by the Fair Housing law.
>
> Sharon
> ———
> Sharon Villines
>
> “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.”
> — Nelson Mandela
>
>
>
>
>
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