Cohousing-L Mailing List: there are no "rules" about cohousing

[Judy (BAXTER%EPIVAX]

"Well, yes, I figured that TRG was such, but I wondered whether this was true in
practice of most co-housing groups.  We're wondering whether we should specify
in various documents what we are interested in allowing, or what we are not
interested in allowing/tolerating/approving, and what we might not."
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I think it is very interesting that people are looking for ideas on how
cohousing "should" be (maybe i'm misinterpreting).  My view is that cohousing
is an idea, a catalyst, and part of that idea is the value of diversity of
ages, viewpoints, etc.  In the U.S.  (I'mnot so sure about Denmark) people seem
to feel strongly about economic and racial diversity, but find these hard to
achieve. I think a group can choose to seek out as much diversity as they
choose, and as far as I'm concerned it's o.k. to choose non-diversity, ie
ideology, or other, tho we are all aware of the problems of the group in
Denmark with a strong ideological focus.  Got to watch for non-discrimination
laws, of course.  But I don't think we have to measure up to some sort of
standard.  

My own group includes quite a bit of age diversity, 4-13, and mid-30's to
mid-60's, fair amount of socio-economic diversity, and some people with special
needs (autism, some brain damage, and mental health issues.)  I'm not sure we
can handle much more.  My philosphy is that we are looking for people who can
work well in the community, regardless of all these dimensions, and I would
hate to try to decide in advance who is "acceptable".  

Judy Baxter, MoCoCo (Mpls)