Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cohousing vs "traditional" self-managed community

[Mariana Almeida (missmgrrl]

Marketing a unit in cohousing is fraught in a fair housing context. You want to 
know a lot about people, but the fair housing law essentially wants you to know 
less (so you can discriminate less.)
This is my POV, not a legal one, but here goes:    
   - If you say, "we want families with children" - this could be perceived as 
indirect discrimination on the basis of age (older people) or familial status 
(single).
   - If you say, "we have labor requirements" - this could be perceived as 
disability discrimination.
   - If you say, "we want racial diversity" - then you might be perceived as 
discriminating on the basis of color or race (for the race you want, even if 
it's a minority)
I think it's possible to navigate this context, and get useful info from 
prospective people, if you're careful. For this reason, you may want to 
restrict who talks to the potential renters or owners so that they don't say 
the wrong things.
   
   - I don't think there are any problem with saying, "we want a neighbor who 
will be friendly and participate in meals" because this doesn't seem to overlap 
with a protected class.
   - You might be able to get away with describing demographics you have, and 
saying you have too much of it: "We have too many single white women over 50." 
Why: because you're not saying what protected class you don't want more of, lol.
   - I think you're always safe describing who you are, but you go into unsafe 
territory if you're describing characteristics of who you want to move in.
A safe approach is leaving things incredibly open-ended, such as a form that 
simply says: "tell me about you and anyone else in your household who would be 
living with you."
I would love to hear from POVs from people on this important topic!
Thanks,
Mariana

For reference, California -- my state -- protects renters and homebuyers from 
discrimination andharassment because of race, color, religion, national origin, 
ancestry, disability, sex,gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual 
orientation, source of income,marital status, familial status, genetic 
information, age, immigration status, primarylanguage, or citizenship. 
https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2022/12/Housing-Rights-Booklet_English.pdf
 

    On Monday, May 19, 2025 at 01:14:54 PM PDT, Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L 
<cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:  
 
 > On May 19, 2025, at 3:47 PM, Lisa Kuntz via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] 
 > cohousing.org> wrote:
> 
> We are wondering how we can inform potential members of what to expect and
> still be compliant with Fair Housing.

Being compliant with Fair Housing is simple — don’t refuse potential residents 
because they are homosexual, black, have children, etc. All the people Trump 
and his father wouldn’t rent to.

One of the warnings about coping with tyrannies is don’t comply in advance with 
an executive order or presidential declaration on TV that is illegal. What is 
going on now is that the administation is threatening violence so people will 
comply without having their orders declared illegal. They are unlikely to apply 
Fair Housing to anyone but you get the idea. They would if it served their 
puposes.

The Fair Housing law doesn't say what you must do, only what you must not do. 
You must not cherry-pick buyers to avoid living with people in the classes 
protected by the Fair Housing law.

Sharon
———
Sharon Villines

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.” — 
Nelson Mandela





_________________________________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
http://L.cohousing.org/info