Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Voluntary Community Participation?

[Bonnie Fergusson (fergyb2]

I don’t believe we have a document but the original group met for 5 years 
before move in and were clear about the expectations by move in day and we have 
taken pains to make those expectations clear to all prospective new buyers 
since then.  These expectations are not legally enforceable, it’s community 
culture that has kept them in place.  It is much harder to establish these 
expectations after the fact, it works better to have clarity before move in or 
sale so people who can’t commit to that level of participation weed themselves 
out.Bonnie FergussonSwans Market CohousingOakland, CA


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On Friday, January 6, 2023, 7:08 AM, JULIA SALTER <salterjm [at] bellsouth.net> 
wrote:

Bonnie,
You say your community has specific work expectations --- are these written 
down, is there a document that spells this out? I am asking because my 
community came up with a "policy" after many hours of discussion (and my 
attending several sessions at the CoHo conference in Portland a couple years 
ago and bringing that info to the discussion) and yet we could not 
agree/consent to the policy!! So now we "speak" the expectations but it does 
not result in participation. Any documentation you have would be helpful as we 
revisit this topic.
Thanks!Julia
PS  Please do not share my email with others --- thanks!
I’m here to get it right, not to be right.

 

    On Thursday, January 5, 2023 at 07:15:57 AM EST, Bonnie Fergusson via 
Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:  
 
     We have specific work expectations that all residents need to particpate 
in the work of maintaining and running the Community.  A minimum of 
participation in at least 4 workdays a year (we have 10 scheduled workdays a 
year), cooking Common Dinner once per rotation (about once every 5 weeks) and 
membership/participation in one or more of the Committees which run the 
community and participation in the once a month HOA meeting where policies are 
decided by consensus.  There are variations in participation of course.  Many 
folk are on multiple Committees while some are only on one, some make the 
minimum of 4 workdays a year while others come to every one.  It all worked 
pretty well the first 20 years.  In the pandemic our Common meal program shut 
down for quite a while and has never fully recovered.  Partly out of covid 
fears and partly because we had an influx of new people who never really 
committed to it.  We now struggle to get the work done with 5 out of 20 
households now absentee or absentee landlords.  The renters they got are great 
but don’t really have skin in the game in the same way.  I miss the old 
days.Bonnie FergussonSwans Market CohousingOakland, CA


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On Wednesday, January 4, 2023, 9:46 AM, Joyce Cheney <jcheneyjc [at] gmail.com> 
wrote:

The wonderful, dedicated idealists who started our community created, a 
structure where work is not REQUIRED. They created a structure where work was 
not even EXPECTED in an “unwritten-rule way.” Work participation WAS ASSUMED in 
the sense that everybody would just want to work together wouldn’t they?? 
20 years later, we HOPE that people will work to support and be part of the 
community, but there’s still has no requirement or even expectation. We invite 
and encourage people to participate; that’s it. 
 We understand that condo associations can’t require work legally, but some of 
us (not all!) believe that not even having an expectation of work is a major 
flaw in our cohousing design. From @55 madult residents, the same 15 people do 
most everything. Several adults’ participation is zero. 
We read of some cohousing communities that require 4-10 hrs of work per month - 
or hefty amounts of pay per hr ($35-40)  - and wonder how they can do that 
legally, and wonder who the collection police are!
Beyond those tough logistics, that sounds 
Fair. 
Note:  I am speaking for myself, not for the cohousing Community, in which I 
live. 
Our community move-in was 20 years ago; I’ve been here six.. Jc


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> On Jan 4, 2023, at 7:41 AM, Kathleen Lowry <kathleenlowrylpcclmft [at] 
> gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ed and others: To repeat  my lost email and  comment: (My apologies.)
> 
> I am a deeply and broadly  trained couples and family therapist who follows 
> in part the work of Alfred Adler (equal in importance to Freud and Jung). 
> Adler’s emphasis was on community, families and parenting. He said teaching 
> cooperation and social interest is the  primary parenting role, and primary 
> predictors of mental health.
> 
> Adler also famously said: “ There is harmony only among equals. “
> 
> We aren’t in my view born “sinful”but most of us have to be carefully taught 
> by caregivers or others to cooperate and pitch in.
> 
> Equality of time and effort is considered essential to a happy partnership 
> and healthy families, that is, equality of play time, self-care time etc. and 
> contribution time. For example, kids contribute by doing what they are 
> capable of, (by age 4 or younger they can load the clothes washer) and 
> grandparents might contribute by representing the family as a reading tutor 
> in a school setting. 
> 
> Adler also said “spoiled children grow into angry adults” so even those not 
> expected to contribute equally become resentful (and inevitably less 
> respected) as well. (Very possibly not consciously.)
> 
> This is rich ground for growth in couples and families. 
> 
> For example, food coops have been good examples of the Little Red Hen 
> philosophy. 
> 
> I’d love to hear what various  communities are doing in this regard (sense of 
> equality) and how it’s working-how it affects the community spirit and 
> experience of trust and joy in community. 
> 
> For all I know the above re Adler doesn’t apply to communities at all. 
> Thanks. 
> Kathleen
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Jan 4, 2023, at 6:11 AM, Ed Sutton via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
>> cohousing.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Eno Commons’ founding principles include “voluntary participation,” i.e. no 
>> one is required to participate in the work of caring for the community, and 
>> there is no penalty for non-participation.
>> 
>> Our low HOA dues were established with an assumption of a high level of 
>> resident care work.The small group of neighbors who are struggling to care 
>> for common property are questioning the wisdom of continuing this 
>> arrangement. 
>> 
>> Are there any other co-housing communities successfully operating after 25 
>> years of laissez-faire resident participation?
>> 
>> Ed Sutton
>> Eno Commons
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>> 
>> 
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