Cohousing-L Mailing List: financial diversity (WAS Development Phase)

[Eris Weaver (eris]

Sharon Villines wrote:

 

> We have a few members who want us to consider ways to help

> any residents who are having "real" financial difficulties. For me to do
that I need a

> standard for means testing. Some of us live on surprisingly little money
and don't

> speak up; others talk pain, and keep spending. How anyone uses their money
will

> look foolish to someone else.

 

Exactly! We had a situation in my community in which a household was selling
& moving out because they "couldn't afford it" and a few others tried to
engage the rest of the community in trying to find ways to help them stay -
loans, letting them live in the common house, whatever. While I had sympathy
for the family's job loss, I had a hard time not judging them for spending
money on things that to me seemed like luxuries; I was thus not inclined to
want to help them.

 

Many of us claim that we want more economic diversity in our communities; if
we do, it behooves us to have open conversations about these issues. Greater
diversity = greater opportunity for conflict!

 

 

------------------------------

Eris Weaver, Facilitator & Group Process Consultant

Author, "Let's Talk About Money: A Conversation Guide for Intentional
Communities <http://www.erisweaver.info/books.html> "

eris [at] erisweaver.info

707-338-8589

http://www.erisweaver.info <http://www.erisweaver.info/> 

http://erisweaver.blogspot.com <http://erisweaver.blogspot.com/> 

 

 

fa cil' i tāt: to make easier