Hullo, I'm at the other ICC (Austin TX) and will be visiting ICC Ann Arbor next weekend for my fifth NASCO Institute.
NASCO is specifically about student housing (though it doesn't need to be 100% students and has helped with a couple non-student co-ops), and all the big organizations I know of are as well, but Austin has maybe a dozen or so independent co-ops that tend to have many more older (as in, >22yo) members. I suspect independent co-ops are closer to what we'd want when scoping viability/structure anyway, since they manage this without dedicated paid staff and typically have a real selection process. (Large orgs avoid those because we don't want to be sued for discrimination.)
Zoning tends to be a big hurdle in forming co-ops or similar communities. "No more than six unrelated people in one residents" (possibly soon to be four in Austin) makes it hard. It might be easier when you're not in a college town. These restrictions often seem to be a reaction to students bringing rowdy groups into neighborhoods that don't want that.
Anyway, I'm interested, but want to stay in Austin for the time being and may have found the co-op for me already (just need to get moving on the application process).
John_Maxwell: It's called the Ultimatum Game, and you're right that assuming you're only playing once, it's irrational to refuse any offer, but of course people do.
Hullo, I'm at the other ICC (Austin TX) and will be visiting ICC Ann Arbor next weekend for my fifth NASCO Institute.
NASCO is specifically about student housing (though it doesn't need to be 100% students and has helped with a couple non-student co-ops), and all the big organizations I know of are as well, but Austin has maybe a dozen or so independent co-ops that tend to have many more older (as in, >22yo) members. I suspect independent co-ops are closer to what we'd want when scoping viability/structure anyway, since they manage this without dedicated paid staff and typically have a real selection process. (Large orgs avoid those because we don't want to be sued for discrimination.)
Zoning tends to be a big hurdle in forming co-ops or similar communities. "No more than six unrelated people in one residents" (possibly soon to be four in Austin) makes it hard. It might be easier when you're not in a college town. These restrictions often seem to be a reaction to students bringing rowdy groups into neighborhoods that don't want that.
Anyway, I'm interested, but want to stay in Austin for the time being and may have found the co-op for me already (just need to get moving on the application process).