Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Intentional Community seeks best legal entity

[melanie griffin (melgrif]

sorry. i meant to add, it does sound like you should seriously reconsider
your for-profit status.
melanie

On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 8:38 AM, melanie griffin <melgrif [at] gmail.com> wrote:

> from the Department of Justice's website:
>
> *Discrimination in Housing Based Upon Religion*
>
>  The Fair Housing Act <http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/title8.htm>prohibits 
> discrimination in housing based upon religion. This prohibition
> covers instances of overt discrimination against members of a particular
> religion as well less direct actions, such as zoning ordinances designed to
> limit the use of private homes as a places of worship. The number of cases
> filed since 1968 alleging religious discrimination is small in comparison to
> some of the other prohibited bases, such as 
> race<http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/housing_coverage.htm#race>or national
> origin <http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/housing_coverage.htm#nat>.
>
> The Act does contain a limited exception that allows non-commercial
> housing operated by a religious organization to reserve such housing to
> persons of the same religion.
>
> Here's the text of the exemption:
>
> *Sec. 807. [42 U.S.C. 3607] Religious organization or private club
> exemption*
> (a) Nothing in this subchapter shall prohibit a religious organization,
> association, or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization
> operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with a religious
> organization, association, or society, from limiting the sale, rental or
> occupancy of dwellings which it owns or operates for other than a commercial
> purpose to persons of the same religion, or from giving preference to such
> persons, unless membership in such religion is restricted on account of
> race, color, or national origin. Nor shall anything in this subchapter
> prohibit a private club not in fact open to the public, which as an incident
> to its primary purpose or purposes provides lodgings which it owns or
> operates for other than a commercial purpose, from limiting the rental or
> occupancy of such lodgings to its members or from giving preference to its
> members.
>
>
> I'm not a housing lawyer, and you should probably consult with DOJ or
> somebody who specializes in that kind of law before you proceed to write the
> restrictions into any bylaws or deeds, but it sounds like you could craft
> language that describes your relationship with the church that would bring
> you within the exemption.
>
> Melanie
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 6, 2008 at 4:30 PM, Joan Sarin <mnjsarin91 [at] cox.net> wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi Co-Housing members,
> >
> > We are a forming intentional community of individuals who share a
> > spiritual
> > path.  We will not discriminate on any other basis, but only those who
> > are
> > members of a specific religion will be considered.  How do you manage
> > this
> > with Fair Housing/Equal Opportunity Housing?
> >
> > PS We hope to create an LLC that owns the overall property, with
> > individuals
> > holding shares equivalent to their units' value, thus keeping equity but
> > allowing the community to decide who the unit goes to when members
> > leave.
> > It will not be non-profit (at least we don't think at this time), and we
> > do
> > not intend to have any collective business.  We'd like to hear from
> > similar
> > communities who have faced this legal challenge.  We know there has to
> > be a
> > way!  If you can refer us to an attorney who is knowledgeable in this
> > area,
> > we would appreciate it.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Joan Sarin
> >
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