Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Unit selection

[Landress, Scott (CICG - NY Mortgages) (SLandress]

I think it depends upon the philosophy of your community.  If you are
willing to sacrifice perfect democracy, I'd advocate the ad hoc
committe.  One question you should anticipate would be:  what, other
than seniority, counts?

It sounds like you're going to lose a few members or, at least, piss a
few people off, no matter what you do.  So, I'd also look for backup
members, just in case.

Best of luck.

> ----------
> Reply To:     jeblank [at] ic.org
> Sent:         Wednesday, November 12, 1997 3:28 AM
> Subject:      Unit selection
> 
> Dear friends, 
> 
> I am a member of the Old Oakland CoHousing group, Today I am asking
> for
> advice instead of giving it (one of my annoying habits). 
> 
> I believe that most of you living in built or building communities,
> had
> your unit prices (or at least estimates) and were able to make
> reservations
> for particular units well before your group was full, so that new
> households could know which units were available at the time of
> joining,
> and could reserve a specific unit upon joining. 
> 
> In Old Oakland, our situation is different. We are building 20 units
> and
> just acquired our 20th member household. But we don't yet have unit
> prices--though we have fairly close estimates--and our design has not
> yet
> been absolutely finalized nor yet approved by the Department of Real
> Estate, so we cannot make official reservations. However, we have done
> some
> mock picks with us each stating our first, second and third choices
> and
> lining all these up on a chart by seniority. There are two or three
> households near the bottom of the list, who may end up with no unit
> that
> will work for them which they can afford.
> 
> Can you help us with suggestions for an equitable unit selection
> process?
> Unfortunately, the limits of our building don't give us as much
> flexibility
> as might be desirable, and we have 10 different unit types among these
> 20
> units. Some in our group think we should have a mock pick and then
> discuss
> as a group which households are willing to take a second or third
> choice to
> accommodate those lower on the list who otherwise won't be able to
> live
> with us. 
> 
> Others (our consultant Katie McCamant among them---Katie, I hope I
> haven't
> misunderstood you) recommend against doing this in the whole group.
> These
> folks think that we should submit our choices in writing to a small ad
> hoc
> committee who should sort things out, and then negotiate individually
> with
> members who could accommodate another member by taking their second
> choice.
> The disadvantage of doing it the other way--in an open meeting--is
> that
> people might feel pressured by the group to switch to their second or
> third
> choice, then later wish they had stuck to their guns and feel
> resentful for
> a very long time thereafter. 
> 
> What do you think,?
> 
> Joani
>