Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: COHOUSING-L digest 728

[Zpaiss (Zpaiss]

Dear John,

The issue of accepting Federal money to subsidise some of your units, you
have discovered, is complicated.  You raised two related but different
issues.  The effect of having people become part of the community who do not
need to have any desire to be communal is IMO a problem.  They may end up
being some of the best members of the community but I would suggest building
into the process a way for them to learn what will be expected of them
(though not legally binding) in addition to paying their rent.  

Here at Nyland when a community member puts their home up for sale, they are
given a packet of info to show to prospective buyers.  The packet includes
some historical info about CoHousing and Nyland, how the committee's work,
how our meals work, the process we use for decision making and several other
things I am forgetting.  This way they find out what they are getting
themselves into.

Our experierience at Nyland with renters in general is that they are some of
the most active members of the community. Thet are treated exactly the same
as PWM's (people with mortgages) and have been a wonderful addition to the
diversity of the community.

Good Luck,

Zev Paiss
Nyland CoHousing with 130+ people including 15+ renters!