Cohousing-L Mailing List: Request for comments on Cost Sharing Strategies

[David Hessler (dhessler]

Dear Intentional Community Members,

EcoVillage@Ithaca (EVI) is a co-housing community in Ithaca, NY based on the
fundamentals of environmental awareness and community interaction. As
participants in a second-neighborhood expansion project at EVI, we are
researching cost-sharing mechanisms employed by many different types of
intentional communities, including co-housing, CSA and others.

We are very interested in any thoughts or processes that you have developed
for providing flexibility in community cost sharing. Specifically, we are
interested in systems which would allow us to balance the ability-to-pay,
with the responsibility all community members feel to support their
community.

EVI households have a wide range of incomes, free-time available for
community involvement, and skills. We are striving for a simple and fair
mechanism that will sustain the community in both a financial and social
sense.  EVI is governed by consensus, and therefore community members are
used to careful, thoughtful dialogue and an open process for deciding on all
community issues.

The second neighborhood, which is currently under construction and expects
to begin move-ins by late spring of 2002, is actively discussing budgets,
financing, and all the other community issues related to building a
co-housing village. We feel that this is a good time to request help and
advice from the myriad of other communities which have wrestled with (and
provided solutions for) these issues.

We would be most grateful for your advice, suggestions, and examples of good
(and bad) ways you have found to deal with the issues surrounding
cost-sharing of community operating costs. Please feel free to reply to this
email directly if you wish(dhessler [at] chemsw.com).

Thanks for your attention, we wish you well in your community endeavors.

Best Wishes,
Laura Beck & David Hessler
EcoVillage@Ithaca, SoNG Group

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