Pizza, games & a critical hearing to legalize community living

Boulder already has a cooperative housing ordinance: it doesn’t work. The city council has a new proposed ordinance in the works, but right now council is discussing some things that just flat out won’t work for existing cooperatives, like requiring 300 or 400 square feet per person. If the ordinance moves ahead as discussed, many of us will lose our homes.

On Tuesday, October 4th, city council is likely hash out the most important details of the cooperative housing ordinance.

We need you and your friends and coworkers to come tell city council that now is the time to pass an ordinance that will allow existing co-ops to remain in their homes and new co-ops to be formed.

Swamp council’s inboxes with 100 emails for co-ops!

Right now we are outnumbered – we must win the ground game for emails. We are shooting for 100 emails to council in the next two weeks!

Send your message now to council@bouldercolorado.gov and BCC legalizecoops@gmail.com so we can keep count. It’s best to tell council why community living is important to you.

Need some talking points?

  • Occupancy that works. Requiring 300 or 400 square feet per person, just flat out won’t work for cooperatives. That won’t allow for affordable communities to form. We’ve collected data on all the existing cooperatives in town and know that requiring 150 square feet is what works for all the current co-ops in town to exist legally.
  • Co-ops are about affordability. By sharing space and sharing resources, co-ops provide affordable places to live and create community benefits. Boulder is an expensive place to live and co-ops can provide housing for people of variety of income levels.
  • Co-ops are about community. This is not about cramming people into houses – it’s about the joy of community living that comes with spending time together, sharing meals together, making things and learning things together.
  • Co-ops are good for Boulder – and the planet. Sharing spaces helps meet the city’s goals for sustainability, affordability and resiliency – within the walls of existing houses.
  • Co-ops are good neighborhood citizens. An ordinance that limits the number of cars and requires co-ops to certify that they’re living cooperatively will help ensure that co-ops are both community assets and responsible neighborhood citizens.