This article from the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) is eye-opening and thought-provoking.
The END of Participation
Hands up if you think members in your co-op don’t participate enough.
It’s a complaint often heard in housing co-ops. But co-ops have been complaining about the same thing for almost 40 years. Why haven’t we solved the problem?
Maybe it’s time to ask whether our current model of member participation in housing co-ops is working. Maybe it’s time to ask some hard questions about how much we expect from our members and whether we’re getting the results we want.
Please spend a few minutes reading the rest of the article – what we need to look at good governance and members’ role in it.
This is a pivotal article and influenced the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada to get rid of – as Woodsworth did – the compulsory “volunteer hours” of 4 hours per month.
Instead, Woodsworth’s Occupancy Bylaw requires members to attend general members’ meetings – to take part in democratic functioning and decision making.