What is a housing co-op, commune, collective pad, condo, or whatever?

Well, it's only important to those of us who like to make distinctions about living situations. The co-op we formed and lived in was also a legal entity, a non-profit corporation that held the title to the house. We had a "limited equity" interest in the house restricted to the size of a security deposit. What happens in the future if the house is sold? Well, according to our bylaws, if anyone can still find them, any sales money would go toward retiring outstanding co-op debts and then if there were any profits left they would have to be donated to some other housing co-operative organization. The decision to sell the house would require a "Type 3 Vote", a vote of all current and former residents who could still be contacted; this was our defense against some future generation of Rivendwellers ripping off the co-op. We did a lot of thinking and discussion about this, but I'm sure some legal minded free enterprisers could still unravel our checks and balances.

We could also have rented space as a legal co-op entity, or bought an apartment building with separate co-op units. Other types of co-ops grant members a full equity interest in their share of the co-op. Sometimes there's really not a whole lot of difference between a co-op apartment unit and a condo apartment unit, such as in places like New York City. And NOTHING guarantees a long term co-operative spirit.

We, back in the 1970's, were both students and ex-students, with an age range of early 20's to late 30's. But co-ops are also operating for retirees as well, with an in-house manager hired to provide specialized care; sometimes this situation is described as "congregate" housing, generally subsidized by state housing authorities. Now that I am approaching the age of 60, that option has more appeal.

You could also have a co-op schooner, but I bet that enterprise would soon "sink" under the burden of co-operative management.

The essential thing about any successful "household of unrelated individuals" (or related ones for that matter) is that they have a process of getting to know one another BEFORE they are living together. All of the original members of Rivendell Co-op knew each other through friendship networks, music associations, or politics, or even all three. We still had a series of breakfast meetings to discuss a whole range of "what ifs" and it's amazing how many we were able to nail. Afterwards, when we were replacing a member (the predecessor generally left voluntarily although usually under stress...) the procedure was to inventory our non-resident friends and if none of them were active prospects, place an AD, invite the prospects individually to a dinner, and then assemble the residents for a discussion followed by a "Type 2 Vote" - each resident could unconditionally veto a prospect.

This is probably more than anyone really wants to know about housing co-ops. Suffice to say, ours survived to this day in some fashion. Two neighboring ones which formed about the same time as ours did not survive, one the victim of anarchy, one the victim of fascism (one couple drove everyone else out).

Have a nice day!