Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Admitting cohousing members

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

During the start up  phases, before you have  any real property to sell, you
can pretty much make whatever requirements you want for membership.
Obviously if you are discriminating by race or religion you might get into
some potential hot water if somebody gets angry enough to take some action
against you. However, there are lots of communities that do discriminate by
religion, they simply advertise only to certain circles.

I have seen that groups which have some entry process beside just money tend
to attract a more committed group. For example, I recently saw a membership
application which had the following questions on it:

Why do you want to live in a community?
What do you offer our community?
What liabilities (personal attributes, quirks, etc.) do you bring to our
community
Tell us about your abilities and/or challenges to live up to the expected
commitments of our community in terms of participation and  finances?


I  thought these questions, even if they were only asked of people to
reflect on, would give a good self evaluation for people considering joining
a cohousing group.

Of course, once you have real property to sell, the banks control who can
become members and you can only informally screen people as best you can.

Rob