Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Associate seniority -- what's it good for?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Jan 2, 2007, at 3:36 AM, Jonnie Pekelny wrote:

> So, how does associate seniority work in your community? What's it 
> used for? What are the advantages to being a more senior associate, 
> versus a more junior one?

Using the word "seniority" might come back to haunt you. Seniority 
implies some permanent status as in "senior citizens" or "senior 
faculty." You might instead refer to a unit selection priority -- I 
assume that is what you are talking about.

We had a membership deposit, non-refundable, that established a unit 
selection priority list. People were number 10 or 23 or whatever 
depending on when they signed their checks. That number changed when 
someone dropped out, moving everyone else up a notch. People who 
started out at number 35, ended up nearer 25.

Once the construction loan was negotiated, everyone had to put in a 
down payment and sign a contract. Anyone who signed a contract jumped 
ahead of anyone who did not. If a unit became vacant because someone 
dropped out very late in the process and some did, the selection 
priority was honored. But it was honored on a first come first serve 
basis -- the person who committed first, got the unit.

There was no permanent seniority -- and the queue disappeared once all 
the units were purchased. And we didn't have levels of membership 
except that some were committed and some were not.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org