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

[Linda Hobbet (coho]

Most cohousing is multi-generational. I'm not sure why one would want to 
prevent  children from being around elders by law.

I live in a senior cohousing development. While we abide by HOPA 
requirements to certify as 55+ (at least 80% of our units must have at 
least one occupant who is 55 or older) and we are allowed to exclude 
persons under 18 from permanent residence, we are not required to do so. 
We don't exclude children because, should a resident need to take on 
raising a grandchild, we don't want to force them to move out. But our 
homes are small (650 - 1150 sq ft) and we don't have any child-oriented 
facilities.

We wanted to spend our limited finances on adult-oriented facilities, 
but we are specifically 55+ because it made it possible for us to rezone 
to build our homes closer. The city planners believe it results in less 
traffic (I guess they didn't think about the parade of Amazon, UPS, and 
other delivery trucks, LOL).

Linda

On 2/26/2026 10:50 AM, Sophie Rubin via Cohousing-L wrote:
> 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.

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706-202-7178
coho [at] lindahobbet.com

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