Yes, the way this is worded does set up another class – people living at Toiora, ie boarders/flatmates (and would probably include adult children) who have not committed to the cohousing way of living.

We made the assumption that unless people were prepared to commit to cohousing living and philosophy, they would not be entitled to use of common facilities because they might contravene policies we have debated and hold dear.

We also agreed we are utterly opposed to signs, especially signs about rules, where we live.

It seems to me this may need whole group discussion, not just our little group. It probably affects you more than anyone, Alex, I wish you had been able to come to our previous small group meetings or participate in drafts we circulated.

Perhaps we could use the ‘Renting' and ‘Purchasing' sheets this weekend and leave the Boarders/Flatmates/Adult Children page to further debate?

Will we put it on the next agenda?

And perhaps working bee expectations too?

Best, G

Gay Buckingham

+64 27 4544012

On 18/11/2020, at 3:22 PM, Alex King <alex@king.net.nz> wrote:

Thank you Gay and team for making it a bit less bureaucratic (e.g. the compulsory reading.)
I still thing the "Joining Process for Flatmates or Boarders" could be tweaked a bit.
It seems to set up 2 different classes of non-owner/tenants; those who "would like to become part the community" and those who don't want to. The process of becoming part of the community is to attend an induction, a meeting, a shared meal and a working bee
I see the intent behind it, to make it less onerous for people who don't necessarily want to be fully a part of the community. What I don't like about it is setting up 2 classes of residents, and potentially not allowing some residents to use common facilities. Is it indented as an "all in" or "all out" thing, and you have to be "all in" in order to use the common house or common washing machine, for example?
One potential way around this would be to simply say that anyone using the common facilities agrees to abide by the rules. There might be a notice in the common house saying this. The common house/facility rules would be part of the cohousing agreement I expect. It would apply to everyone using the common facilities; owners, tenants, flatmates, visitors. etc.
One thing we still need to work through IMO is what level of expectation is there for participation in working bees? e.g. for meetings my understanding is that one person from each household should attend. What about working bees? Is every adult in the community expected to contribute, or is there a per-household expectation? Dependent on the number of people in the household? (A wider scope than this document but potentially impacts on it.)
What about adult children who live with us? They would be included under the flatmates and boarders section I assume, so those coming back to live with us would need to commit to common meals, meetings and working bees if they wish to use the common house as it stands.
Thanks,
Alex

On 18/11/20 10:41 am, Gay Buckingham wrote:
Page three (New Owners) amended as per Anne’s suggestion
Gay