Proposal: Increase Minimum Monthly Community Work Hours in the Pay-or-Work Agreement

Proposal: Increase Minimum Monthly Community Work Hours in the Pay-or-Work Agreement

Date: 

Proposed

Amend the Pay-or-Work Agreement (as amended August 26, 2012) by replacing the sentence:

Each adult resident will do a minimum of two hours of community work per month, or will pay $20 an hour for any time not worked.

with:

Each adult resident will do a minimum of four hours of community work per month, or will pay $20 an hour for any time not worked.

All other provisions of the Pay-or-Work Agreement remain unchanged.

Background Summary

Participation is a core value of cohousing, and cohousing communities rely heavily on member participation and volunteer work to manage, maintain, and govern the community. The Pay or Work Agreement from 2011 set a participation requirement of 2 hours per month per adult. In reality, two hours per month per adult resident does not reflect the actual labor needed to manage and maintain the community, with some residents contributing significantly more hours per month to keep the community running.

How This Proposal Intends to Address the Issue

Two hours a month no longer reflects what it takes to collectively run and maintain the community. This proposal increases the minimum to 4 hours (still on the low end compared to many other cohousing communities¹) to better distribute the work across all residents. There is so much to do, and so much room for each person to contribute: planning and facilitating community meetings, organizing events and work parties, cleaning and organizing shared spaces, landscaping, working with vendors on large maintenance projects, participating in decision-making and governance, and more. We need your ideas, your skills, your perspective, and your enthusiasm.

Pros

• Encourages broader, more meaningful participation across all households
• Better reflects the actual labor needed to run the community
  
• Still a modest requirement (approximately one hour per week)
• The $20/hour payment option remains available for those who genuinely cannot contribute time

Cons

• Doubles the minimum obligation for all adult residents, which may feel significant to households with multiple adults
• Some residents may prefer to pay rather than work, increasing the payment burden on those households
  

¹ Examples from other cohousing communities:

• Manzanita Village (Prescott, AZ): 8 hours/month
• Oak Creek Commons (Paso Robles, CA): 4 hours/month
• Milagro Cohousing (Tucson, AZ): 6 hours/month
• Takoma Village Cohousing (Washington, DC): 6 hours/month
• Oak Park Commons (Oak Park, IL): 8-10 hours/month