Democracy/Co-opcracy

Are housing co-operatives truly democratic? Or are they entities unto themselves - Co-opcracies. Yes, housing co-ops do elect Boards of Directors and a set of By-laws are their governing principles, but in my experience, Boards of Directors have more often than not, become dictatorial and instill fear into their members. This is not a healthy environment and while it is true that any member can run for the Board and have input into the running of a co-op, very little changes in the top echelons. Power in our co-op often falls into the hands of a few members, who re-cycle themselves on a Board over and over again. Members need not have any qualifications or good judgment to sit on a Board, nor do they have to know the By-laws. But apply them they will and this can have major consequences for the members. Subsidized members are especially vulnerable to this type of abuse and there is little in the way of legal help for them. Our legal clinic has often said that disputes have to be settled between the members and their Board of Directors. The different levels of co-op overseers side with the Board in most instances and insist that the Board of Directors is always working in the best interests of its members. Why is this? Because there can never be anything wrong with the functioning of co-ops? I think that to acknowledge dysfunction within co-ops, there would be a lot at stake for the co-op sector both politically and monetarily.

If Boards of Directors always work in the best interests of the co-op and its members, members would be on equal footing, but they aren't and never have been. A heavy-handed approach has been entrenched in this co-op since its inception. It's time to apply the organizational flow chart. Members - then the Board.