Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Reaction to Adawehi webinar

[Sophie Rubin (yophiest]

A few things to note.
1) Age is not a FEDERALLY protected class but many STATES have additional
protected classes that include age
2) Familial status IS a protected class and it would be easy to claim that
age discrimination is being used as a proxy for familial status to achieve
the same end goal (eg "you're discriminating against me because I don't
have a family")
3) For senior communities, the protection comes from a 1995 law that
essentially creates a carveout in fair housing laws called the Housing for
Older Persons Act. Personally, I think having a federal law that explicitly
allows housing to reject children but not having a federal law that
protects children from seniors (an extremely powerful constituency that
basically always gets its way...as evidenced by this exact imbalance in
legal protection) is absurd, and would love to see more housing that is
truly family-friendly, but maybe that's just me.
footnote: Cruises and resorts are not real property and therefore totally
different laws apply.

On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 10:34 AM Thomas Chapel via Cohousing-L <
cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:

> Hmm. Guess i was thinking age is a protected class. BUT on other hand how
> do senior communities prohibit folks under 55? Or cruises or resorts that
> ban kids. Not sure
>
> Tom Chapel
>
> On Thu, Feb 26, 2026, 7:33 AM Karen Carlson via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>
> > Surprised that's it's legal to restrict age in housing.  I doubt this
> > could happen in Madison if the cohousing community made this publicly
> known.
> > Karen Carlson
> > Arboretum Cohousing
> > Madison, Wi
> > ________________________________
> > From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+kcarlson2=wisc.edu [at] 
> > cohousing.org>
> > on behalf of /US/VA/22031 via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 5:29 PM
> > To: mabel [at] twomeeps.com <mabel [at] twomeeps.com>
> > Cc: jsiegelhill [at] gmail.com <jsiegelhill [at] gmail.com>;
> > cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> > Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Reaction to Adawehi webinar
> >
> > Yes, it was very disappointing, especially since they're advertising this
> > weeklong tour of NC ecovillages. Nowhere in the ad did I see anything
> about
> > seniors not being welcome there. What's sad is that most of the attendees
> > in the webinar seemed to be seniors, or above 55. So they'll gladly take
> a
> > nice fee for the tour, but they won't tell you you're not welcome there.
> I
> > guess they find out when they get there. What a disappointment that must
> > be. Thanks, I thought I was going crazy. The founders never responded to
> > me. Glad I found out though because I was about to drag my husband there.
> > We've been looking into cohousing for years and he's currently working
> on a
> > teak plantation in Panama. 67 years old.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 6:21 PM Mabel Liang <mabel [at] twomeeps.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Jill,
> > >
> > > Until I saw your message, I was unfamiliar with Adawehi.  Is this the
> > > place?
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.adawehi.com/adawehi-wellness-village/__;!!Mak6IKo!LDSJfzNXqQGfU5loOdTuzPWTo9J9mk8CyxOGzfKjGxtD0DJ_ituX54upPxGY6EOyGd4mBkmJ-G0yVtPD7oomnAleNg$
> > >
> > > It's interesting, on their website
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.adawehi.com/adawehi-wellness-village/living-at-adawehi/*toggle-id-12__;Iw!!Mak6IKo!LDSJfzNXqQGfU5loOdTuzPWTo9J9mk8CyxOGzfKjGxtD0DJ_ituX54upPxGY6EOyGd4mBkmJ-G0yVtPD7opKhLvFug$
> > >
> > > it says:
> > > What is the average age of residents?
> > >
> > > "Adawehi Community is 25 years old, and our founding residents have
> > > obviously aged through this time. Residents range in age from 4 to 85,
> > with
> > > close to half of our members being 60+. Every generation is represented
> > and
> > > respected at Adawehi, and we all learn and benefit from interacting
> > > together. We are open to all ages and family groupings from 0 to 60,
> all
> > > cultural ethnicities and religions, and all gender identities."
> > >
> > > My first reaction was to think that "Residents range in age from 4 to
> 85,
> > > with close to half of our members being 60+." meant that a cutoff of 60
> > was
> > > _not_ in place.  But further reading shows the buried message of "from
> 0
> > to
> > > 60".
> > >
> > > Sounds disappointing!
> > >
> > > -- Mabel :-|
> > > mabel [at] twomeeps.com
> > > Mabel Liang
> > > Cornerstone Village Cohousing
> > > Cambridge, MA
> > >
> > > Software Engineer turned Gardener
> > >
> > > On 2026-02-20 20:58, /US/VA/22031 via Cohousing-L wrote:
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > >
> > > When I tuned in yesterday, the founder told us that the cutoff age is
> 60.
> > > I didn't even realize there was a cutoff age. The funny thing is that I
> > saw
> > > several attendees who were obviously seniors and had an interest in
> > > learning more.
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > > June Siegel-Hill
> > > _________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
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