Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Per Household or Per Person

[Lynn Nadeau / Maraiah (welcome]

RoseWind Cohousing, Port Townsend WA (about 24 years in).

Of our 24 lots, we have one lot occupied solely by renters (in lieu of the 
owners, who moved out of state but don't want to sell in the current market), 
and one lot with renters here temporarily till their owner parent can move into 
the house she bought. We also have 7 renters who live in ADUs (like daylight 
basement apartments) or as housemates (including one caregiver/companion to an 
elder). These range from all-but-invisible, to one who has been here 14 years 
and comes to meals and regularly associates with many of us socially. 

None of them are charged assessments or participate in our decision making. 
We do not count renters as members. Thus, they do not get to participate in 
decision-making. Our thinking on this is that the owners are the ones who pay 
assessments, and thus decisions with financial consequences should be made by 
those who would have the financial impact. (I disagree that owners naturally 
pass on costs to tenants: my ADU renter pays less than market rate for her 
apartment, which is my choice.) 

Renters do get the same meal price as owners, as the better price is for 
"residents" vs "guests". And they can join the in-house CSA (annual-vegetable 
gardening co-op). 

Our consensus process is per person, among owners (=members). Our quorum, 
however, is based on households. In the (once in 20 years) instance that we 
fall back to a vote, it is per household, with fractional votes allowed if 
household members don't agree. 

Maraiah Lynn Nadeau
www.rosewind.org
where the spring flowers are in bloom and last night's meal had salad and 
vegetables straight from our garden