Cohousing-L Mailing List: cost division: individual v. household

[Stephen Farley (sfarley]

Hi, all -- I am a member of the Tucson Cohousing group in Tucson, AZ
and I have been a regular reader and occasional querier on this list
for a while now. A major conflict has come up in the group over 
how to determine an equitable division of development costs; namely
should costs be split by household or by individual?

We are still in the early stages of development, and as of yet, not a whole lot
lot of money has been contributed by anybody, but that may change soon, 
and I get the feeling this has to be resolved immediately, since several
members have left in part due to resentments over past compromises
on this issu.

How have other groups dealt with this conflict in the development process?
Singles feel that multiple-adult households are getting more for their
money if costs are per household; multi-adults feel like they are paying
twice as much for little extra. I fear this could all dissolve into
bitter infighting between special interests and destroy the idea of consensus.

Anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks,
Steve Farley