Last spring, we provided ideas to Board of Directors on how to keep engaged with your membership during the first wave of COVID-19 cases. As we are navigating through another COVID-19 surge, we would like to provide you with another fun guide of ideas to help your membership continue to stay connected. As a Board of Directors, it is important that you not only keep your membership abreast of cooperative issues, but also continue to keep the morale of the membership up.

With summer around the corner, your cooperative may be getting ready to start planning for the opening of swimming pools and other recreational facilities, such as basketball courts, tennis courts, playgrounds, and parks. However, due to COVID-19, extra attention and careful consideration must be given to ensure that the cooperative is in compliance with any and all local and state COVID-19 restrictions as well as adhering to all CDC guidelines for these types of recreational facilities. As we all know, COVID-19 restrictions vary from state to state with respect to face mask orders, gathering size restrictions, capacity limitations and social distancing requirements, and COVID-19 restrictions are continuing to change. Therefore, it is pertinent for Board of Directors to review and monitor your state’s COVID-19 restrictions to ensure that your cooperative remains in compliance.

As COVID-19 cases are on the rise, many states have again mandated stay-at-home orders or have pulled back on reopening plans. Some states have even tightened restrictions on businesses that must remain closed and/or have ordered that all employees that can work remotely, must do so. With any state, local or county government law, order, guidance, or directive that provides for COVID-19 restrictions and/or requirements in the workplace, a cooperative Board of Directors must contact its cooperative attorney to not only interpret the restrictions and/or requirements but to assist the Board of Directors with the implementation of restrictions.

As states begin to slowly reopen, the question as to whether pools will open for the summer has become a hot topic. For states that have been hit hard with COVID-19, it is likely that public pools will remain closed for the rest of the summer. However, some states are permitting public and private pools to open/reopen for the summer months with strict guidelines.

Squatters are defined as individuals who illegally occupy a property without compensation and without documentation. It is becoming more common and, unfortunately, in many situations, dangerous. In a housing cooperative, squatting can occur under a couple of different scenarios. The first is they start off as an invited guest of a Member and then they just never leave thereby establishing legal residence. Legal residence occurs when the law recognizes your use of a particular address as your home where you receive mail. This is generally a 30-day window and is generally dealt with effectively through the use of appropriately drafted guest policies and enforcement of your governing documents. Typically, you want a registration process for planned stays that are longer than a week and shorter than a month. This assures the Cooperative that occupants are authorized occupants and visitors are just visitors.

We’ve all heard the phrase “Location, location, location.” But did you know it applies to not only where you live but where you park your vehicle? Where a person parks can have a significant impact on the person. In addition to the challenges of managing parking lots for members and their guests,, parking for housing providers can become a major headache if they don’t take the right steps when considering additional parking requirements when faced with disability accommodations requests. This doesn’t mean that every request requires a rubber stamp approval. Yet, each request should receive individual attention and housing providers have some leeway when considering requested accommodation. Knowing the “ins and outs” of the approval or denial process will help housing providers navigate this legally perilous subject.