Hello Team @reef-inclusion!
Here’s a couple of thoughts ahead of the first meeting.
1. What are the deliverables?
1.1. Finding consensus on how to approach the inclusive units (urgent)
To deliver on this task I think we should answer the following questions:
- Which options exist?
- What is the carrying capacity of The Reef?
- What are the legal and financial aspects that we should take into account?
1. Which options exist?
This is a research question. The way I picture it we would develop technical fiches that would gather all the useful information that we can find.
Questions to be answered could include the following:
- Which target groups could we include?
- Which potential partner organisations are active in Brussels?
- Which possible benefits? (e.g. youngsters do the grocery shopping for elderly people, elderly people can babysit, …)
- What are the risks?
- What can we learn from other cohousings?
- …?
2. What is the carrying capacity of The Reef?
In the Blueprint 1.0 it says somewhere that out of the 20-30 units, we could have 5 inclusive units. Any further specifics have yet to be filled in.
This question is about people’s range of tolerance and should ideally build on the research results regarding risks and other cohousings’ experiences.
A fictional example may illustrate this better. Say that in the list of options there would be the option of an inclusive unit that would be a home for people who are released from prison and who don’t feel ready to live by themselves yet. It’s an extreme example mostly to illustrate the fact that we’ll need to talk about what we think we can manage as a community.
3. What are the legal and financial aspects that we should take into account?
This is where the headaches start, and where we need to collaborate with Team @reef-finance.
Two fictional examples should make it easier to structure our thoughts and make sure we know what we are doing before we do it:
- Example 1: Someone would like to do a social investment by bying one unit and renting it out at a social tariff to one household (e.g. a youngster or a family)
- Example 2: We team up with an organisation who would like to provide a home for 4-8 individuals (e.g. elderly people, children, people with a disability, …)
Questions that we need to answer I believe include the following:
- Who is going to front the money?
- How will we deal with the owners of the unit? Will they get equal rights to “regular” Reeflings? Probably not, but then how do we go about defining their rights? (here we can probably learn a lot from other cohousings)
- How can we protect The Reef from a change of ownership of those units? Made more concrete: how can we make sure that if an owner of an inclusive unit wants to sell their property, we’re not stuck with one or the other capitalistic idiot?
- How will we deal with the inhabitants of the inclusive units in terms of decision-making? This is far into the future and it has been dealt with by other cohousings, but it’s still something we should have on our radar.
1.2. How can we make The Reef more inclusive in the near future? (a bit less urgent)
I am writing it up as "less urgent’, but that’s only because point 1.1 stands in the way of purchasing a site, while point 1.2 doesn’t. And as we are still a bit stretched thin when it comes to the things we need to get done and the number of people who are available to do it, I would prefer to prioritise point 1.1.
That being said I think it’s important to walk the talk about what we said that inclusion goes beyond just including a couple of units for vulnerable people. In my view it’s a very thin line between diversity and inclusion.
A real example: at the Salon de l’Habitat Groupé I talked to an older lady who would have been interested to join The Reef. The only limitation was that she was not digitally connected: no computer, no smartphone and not willing to learn. Including a person like this would be great in my view and can’t be so difficult after all: all we need is a buddy who is willing to call up this lady every once and a while, print some documents for her and put them in the mail.
Are we ready for that at this stage? I’m pretty sure we are not, but I am confident that we’ll get there in the near future. In practical terms that means that for the next recruitment round in October my personal range of tolerance is rather conservative, i.e. I would like to recruit a couple more people who can help us to develop a sociocratic culture and put their shoulders under the project, so we can purchase a site ASAP. After that I think Team Recruitment and Team Inclusion should join forces and see how we can increase diversity other than the inclusive unit.
2. By when do we need the results?
Compared to Team Building and Team Finance + Legal we have a bit more leeway, but not much. To be able to purchase a site, we need to know more or less how many square meters we want to build, and so ideally this number would already include a realistic estimate of what we want for the inclusive units.
Can we say that we strive to have a serious discussion with Team Reef about point 1.1 on 20 November (our full day reflection / plenary meeting day)?
3. Reading up
Reading up is a bit less straightforward compared to the other Teams and will depend a bit more on internet searches.
Here are some suggestions:
- L’Echappée manual: 15 pages of interesting knowledge about building a cohousing. I find it very insightful to learn a bit more about how to build a cohousing.
- The “Kenniscentrum Wonen Welzijn Zorg” (NL only, translation: “Knowledge Centre Living Wellbeing Care”) has a collaborator who specialises in “alternative ways of living” in Brussels (we have met him several times and have his contact details). They offer help with construction projects and their website seems like an incredible wealth of knowledge.
- Habitat & Partication have a page in French on cohousings with a focus on solidarity (habitat groupé solidaire)
- Cohousing Projects’ financial model as a cooperative includes pre-financing of sites and units (see also their investment brochure) (both in NL)
- Hubbie seems to be an important player in Brussels. Available in Dutch only though?
- Cohousing Eikenberg: a cohousing in Bruges that does inclusion. I attended a workshop with one of the founding members, so I’m adding this here mostly as a note to myself.
4. The first meeting
Malaz volunteered to find a time slot for the first meeting (thanks!).
At the first meeting my suggestion would be that we look at 1) how we can work together, and 2) how we can distribute the work to gather knowledge as discussed in point 1.1 above.
Works?
