Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: associate members in the neighborhood

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

We have associates (we call them friends) and they contribute to the
community. The scoop is they pay a sliding scale "cohousing fee*" that
varies from $5 to $100 per month. For that, they essentially get all
the same privileges as members except no voice or card on homeowner
items and no red card. (there are some differences--you can go to our
website and look for membership and there is a chart.)

In fact, they join for different reasons. One family uses the music
room, another come to general meetings, a few come to lots of meals, a
few only come a few times a year but like to be on our email list to
know about social events. A few are on some of our teams, come to work
days, or take up various tasks.

In some cases the benefit to our community is high, in other cases it
builds goodwill but isn't a high benefit to us. The cost to us is
either zero or negligible, once we got over arguing about it.

I don't know the figures but I assume almost all pay closer to the $5
end of the scale.

[*Not relevant, but our cohousing fee is for all members and is
separate from our HOA dues. This is due to an odd thing with the
state's affordable housing rules.]

[Also distinctive for us, about half of our friends (that's a wild
guess) are members of the other cohousing community on the same
property.]

-Liz
(The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org
www.mosaic-commons.org
508-450-0431

>
> We're a 17yr old cohousing community with 34 units. Neighborhood households
> (directly adjacent, a few -or severa-l blocks away...) have asked to be
> associate members. How has your community handled this request and why? If
> you have associate members (not during construction, as a step toward full
> membership, but once your community is fully functioning), what are the
> terms? What's your advice? Thanks, Joyce from Casa Verde Commons, Colorado
> Springs
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-- 
-Liz
(The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org
www.mosaic-commons.org
508-450-0431