Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Affordable Cohousing

[Maggi (librarymaggi]

I'm not Zev, but I'll point out that this is a Boulder, Colorado thing, not
a Nomad thing. You can read more information about Boulder's affordable
housing program here:
https://bouldercolorado.gov/homeownership

On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 4:57 PM Chris Hansen <itschrishansen [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Would love to see your 'goodness of fit' document!
> With thanks...
>
> On Mon, 19 Apr 2021 at 16:54, Diana Stanley <lusty [at] lusty.org> wrote:
>
> > Diana,
> >
> > The part of what Zev wrote that we are interested in is this:
> >
> > >> goodness of fit questionnaire, attend an open house, a meal and a
> > business
> > >> meeting so we can meet them and they can see what we are all about.
> >
> > As I stated before, we have no interest in denying anyone, and we never
> > have denied anyone. Our "goodness of fit questionnaire" is more like a
> > "no-surprises checklist", and all the rest are just so the person can
> meet
> > others in the community and find out what co-housing is all about. And we
> > will not be writing anything into our governing documents without first
> > getting approval from a real estate attorney who is knowledgeable about
> > what we can and cannot ask prospective buyers to do.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Diana
> > Phoenix Commons, Oakland, CA
> >
> > > On Apr 19, 2021, at 1:43 PM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Diana: What Zev describes is *extremely unusual *and would generally be
> > > illegal. There must be some legal loophole or workaround here related
> to
> > > the city's affordability program that allows them to screen potential
> > > buyers that way. Even if there is some loophole that allows this not be
> > be
> > > a violation of the equal housing laws, I would not suggest doing this
> --
> > > for me, on principle, this is a bad thing. Once you start evaluating
> > people
> > > for "fit", you are introducing the sort of subjective judgements that
> > lead
> > > to racism, ableism, etc.  As much as in your heart you may not want to
> do
> > > this, or be that person, unconscious bias is a thing. I'm honestly
> > shocked
> > > to hear cohousing doing this or endorsing it. :(
> > >
> > > diana Carroll
> > > Mosaic Commons, central MA
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Mon, Apr 19, 2021 at 4:09 PM Diana Stanley <lusty [at] lusty.org> 
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Zev,
> > >>
> > >> Is this process written into your governing documents? Was it vetted
> by
> > a
> > >> real estate attorney? Would you be willing to share the parts of your
> > >> governing documents that outline this process? Does it only apply
> > because
> > >> the applicants are buying below-market-rate properties?
> > >>
> > >> My community is currently struggling with what sort of processes we
> can
> > >> write into our governing documents to achieve exactly the process you
> > >> describe for prospective new members of the community. We don't
> actually
> > >> deny anyone, however we want to require all of them to go through all
> > the
> > >> steps you describe, so they and we are certain they know what they're
> > >> buying into.
> > >>
> > >> Thanks,
> > >> Diana
> > >> Phoenix Commons, Oakland, CA
> > >>
> > >>> On Apr 19, 2021, at 11:11 AM, Zev Paiss <zevpaiss [at] gmail.com> wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> Dear Ann,
> > >>>
> > >>> Buyers pre-qualify with the City affordable housing program and get
> > >> pre-approved by a lender as part of that process.
> > >>>
> > >>> Before COVID our community required that all applicants complete a
> > >> goodness of fit questionnaire, attend an open house, a meal and a
> > business
> > >> meeting so we can meet them and they can see what we are all about. A
> > small
> > >> committee of 4-6 people whittle down the pool of qualified applicants
> > to a
> > >> small handful and then pass them along to the seller to make the final
> > >> decision.
> > >>>
> > >>> Zev Paiss
> > >>> Nomad Community Room Coordinator
> > >>> 1410 Quince Avenue, Boulder CO 80304
> > >>> 720-925-5161
> > >>>
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>
> --
> Chris Hansen
> 32 East Village Drive
> Burlington
> Vermont 05401
> USA
>
> Ph 603 3988730
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