Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: unit selection priority?

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

First question that is always valid: Why do this at all? Be clear about why
you want to create a unit selection priority in the first place. Having
clear goals will help you measure the scheme you come up with. (This is true
for a great number of community decisions)

I have seen a fair number of schemes  for doing this. I think most groups
use a simple model of the order folks put in their membership money. The
advantage of this is that it is easy. The disadvantage  is that it ignores
the fact that money is not  the only thing that makes cohousing startup
projects go.

I have also seen some additional ideas tried out, such as adding an hours
commitment as well. So, for example, if you put in your money  but no time,
you get  bumped down the list behind those that put in the expected hours. I
have also seen it mixed, where the first tier of selection is when you put
in your money, the second tier is your total hours, so those that commit
both money, and time, get first pick. The idea was that once you put your
money in, you could improve your selection position by doing more work.

I have also seen  at least one group not do anything about unit selection
priority. It seemed to work out fine, although  it was something they had to
wrangle over.

When you actually get down to picking units, you may end  up working at it
some more anyway in order to help people succeed.


Rob Sandelin
Community Works!