Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Diversity in Cohousing

[Paul Fenn (paulfenn]

Howard, others discussing low income cohousing challenges:

Cannot improvements be funded with rental unit revenues and membership dues?

Thanks, Paul

At 09:28 PM 6/29/2002 -0700, you wrote:
> Howard wrote:
> >"We have a
> >consensed community value that we want to "finish off" River Rock
> >within 5 years, but the expenditure levels needed to do that
> >appear impossible to achieve.  We, collectively, say we want something
> >but are unwilling to pay for it. ...
> >I believe that any cohousing group which includes low-income persons
> >is likely to run into this problem.  My advice to you would be: make
> >sure EVERYTHING is completed before move-in, or you could be waiting
> >for years to do any major capital improvements."
>
> Or have a system, as we do, in which funds for capital improvements are paid
> every month by all households but on a sliding scale, heavily weighted by
> ability to pay. This enables the community as a whole to determine
> priorities on spending a known amount of money for capital improvements
> without each decision running up against the fact that some have far more
> means than others.
>
> Also relevant: See the archives about debates regarding allowing some
> members to work more and others to pay more. We have for the most part
> successfully resisted this idea so far, thought it keeps cropping up. It may
> function very well when you have a community full of people who can each
> take that choice as they wish, but it's fraught with dangerous implications
> for community solidarity when some HAVE to work more because they can't
> afford to pay more -- and yes, these might be people who are already working
> long hours at low wages outside.
>
> If you care about enabling people of less means to join your community, as
> we did from the start, then instead the community needs to adopt a balanced
> approach involving both the amount of work expected of its members and the
> amount of money to be collected, plus the basis of collection.
>
> If being able to include some lower-means folks doesn't matter to you, then
> by all means, develop your gated cohousing community with sprawling houses,
> bigger garages, an Olympic pool and banquet facilities, music studios, etc.
> in the common house. Hey, it will still be more environmentally friendly if
> you can share these amenities instead of each family having its own! But
> have fun getting all your upscalers to agree on whose "needs" will become
> community priorities.
>
> David Mandel of the original "downscalers" cohousing group in Sacramento
>
>
>
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