In the past few years, the artists community and others have expressed concerns about legislative proposals to impose new requirements on housing cooperative governance and in particular, the burdens these requirements would place on limited equity coops, artists coops and other coops that serve lower income residents.  In this legislative cycle, the Senate Budget bill included an amendment (#8) that would impose new, unnecessary requirements on cooperative housing boards and members.

The text of that amendment is available here: http://www.masenate.gov/Bills/187/Senate/S00004/Amendment/Senate/8/Text

We, the undersigned, are urging that the Conference Budget Committee does not include Senate Budget Amendment #8 or any coop language in the budget.

In Massachusetts, housing cooperatives are already prohibited from discriminating under Chapter 151B. It is very unclear how this new language will impact limited equity coops and tenants in coops with low incomes. The Committee members need to oppose Senate Amendment Number 8 because that adds a New Outside Section that changes the cooperative housing governing statute by adding new problematic requirements for cooperative housing boards and members. The State Budget is not the correct vehicle to pass such co-op policy that impacts so many in the artist community and beyond!

I urge you to oppose Amendment 8 for the good of Massachusetts residents and communities that benefit from these intentional communities.