Multi-Site Purchasing

This agreement describes the general approach of the Brassica Collective to purchasing land and houses. It applies to all site purchases. 

Why we purchase

We purchase sites in order to provide housing that is in line with our collective vision (when we have one). Until we have that, we purchase sites in order to fulfil the general goals of RAD Housing, that is to Retrofit and Decommodify housing Collectively, and in Solidarity.

When we purchase

This will be amended later to present a plan for how we stagger the purchase of multiple sites. For now, we will purchase our first site when:

• We have a registered legal entity for the collective, and all the legal instruments ready to execute the T2S model.
• We have created all the agreements outlined in Purchase Steps (below)
• We have commitments to provide all the funds and loan guarantees needed to purchase a site
• We have passed a Major Decision of the collective indicating that we are ready to execute a site purchase

How we purchase

Site Purchasing Agreement

We develop a Site Purchasing Agreement each time we intend to purchase a site. It most likely does not describe a specific property  (unless we are reacting to an unusual opportunity) but describes a specific attempt to search for and, if found, buy a property for specific reasons.

The Site Purchasing Agreement will contain:

1. Purchase decision elements
   1. Required Purchase Criteria. These will be specific requirements that the property needs to meet. These will be consistent with and informed by the Site Selection Principles in this multi-site purchasing agreement. 
   2. Ideal Purchase Criteria. These will be elements that contribute to how likely we are to select one property over another when both properties meet all required purchase criteria. These will be consistent with and informed by the Site Selection Principles in this multi-site purchasing agreement. 
   3. Property Scoring Rubric. The agreement will contain a method of scoring properties against each other to determine our favourite. This may also include a minimum score needed for the property to be considered for purchase.
   4. Budget. This will include the budget for initial capital, for ongoing monthly payments, and a very rough estimate of retrofit budget. This may be a range, and/or it may be a formula per-room if that increases our ability to pay.
   5. Timeline. This will describe our desired timeline for the purchase. This timeline will include the time-point at which we revise our criteria, budget, or purchase decision process if we have not yet purchased.
   6. Purchase Decision Process. This will describe how the decision will be made to purchase a specific property. The recommendation is that the criteria and scoring rubric does most of the work. If there is to be a go/no-go decision per property, this section will outline the timeline for this in a way that can reasonably be done in time to make offers (ie, not “at the next assembly”, more like “within a 48 hour window of time, on Loomio”).
2. Purchase workflow
   1. Roadmap. A roadmap of tasks to be done to get from this agreement to a purchased house (this could be prepared in other software and referenced here).
   2. Roles and Responsibilities. A clear description of roles and responsibilities needed to complete the purchase workflow. Including some high responsibility roles that are unusual in the context of our usual opt-in approach to participation (e.g. once we sign a contract, there will be responsibilities on settlement day that can not easily be opted out of).
   3. Clarity on how the roles will be assigned. This will include clarity on how these will be assigned, either by delegating to crews in the agreement, or having responsibilities open for volunteers to step into. The document will indicate if any roles will become mandatory at certain points (eg, once we sign a contract, work on settlement day may be mandatory). 
   4. Participant commitments. A list of commitments of funds towards our deposit and purchase costs, commitments for necessary mortgage guarantees, and commitments by participants choosing to opt in to each of the identified high responsibility  roles.
3. Post-purchase workflow
   1. Roadmap. A roadmap of tasks to get from a house purchase to residents living there, and expected financial contributions being made.
   2. Roles and Responsibilities. A clearer description of roles and responsibilities needed to ensure that we get to a stable state of people having moved in and financial contributions being made.
   3. Initial Post-purchase budget. A monthly budget describing post-purchase costs, including servicing the mortgage, rates and other mandatory ongoing costs. This can be an initial pass at this stage, with a more detailed house budget being developed later.
   4. Initial resident selection process. A description of the process and criteria for the selection of initial residents.
   5. Participant commitments. A list of participant commitments that will cover the initial post-purchase budget. This may take the form of commitments from initial residents, or backstop commitments from non-residents. It may also take the form of a reserve of cash on-hand.
   6. First 6 months risk assessment. A list of risks that could occur that might threaten the collective and it’s ownership of the property in the first six months, with mitigation strategies listed for each risk where possible.

Purchase Ethical Principles

Future amendments should update this to include ethical considerations of how we undertake the purchase, and in particular to address the issue of what we do if a property we are considering purchasing is currently tenanted.

What we purchase

Site Selection Principles

The following general principles guide the development of our specific purchase criteria.

1. We will leverage our purchases for impact
   1. Site Repair: We buy “non-eco” properties and increase the sustainability of both the housing and land-use (see pattern language 104)
   2. Value the Edge: We value sites that can be embedded in broader community, and where we can embrace the edge between the housing and more common spaces. (see permaculture principle 11)
2. We will support more sustainable and resilient lifestyles in the context of climate and ecological emergency.
   1. Food growing: We expect to grow food at most of our sites, to any extent that makes a meaningful contribution to our food needs, and we will prioritise sites with access to sun, water and growing space.
   2. Resilience potential: We value sites that have the potential for specific resilience features which support our residents and the surrounding neighbourhood.
   3. Location supports non-car transport options
3. We will support inclusion and access
   1. Potential for accessibility: We will develop specific accessibility standards and prioritise sites that already meet them, or have potential for us to meet them through retrofitting and site repair.
   2. Provide for diverse life needs: Across the collective there should be spaces to support different life needs, levels of autonomy, and sensory impact. These do not need to all be present at every site.
4. We will support collective living and resource sharing
   1. Collective luxury: Sites should have potential for meaningful collective features providing both usefulness and moments of luxury, rather than investing in private space and individual solutions.
   2. Supporting our well-being: Our spaces have potential to support our wellbeing needs including time outdoors in nature, move our bodies, and/or engage in practices that support our culture, mental-health and/or spirituality.
5. We are responsible to future residents to avoid undue risk
   1. Avoid major location risks: Relative to the local area, we do not pick sites which are prone to “natural disasters”, even with a long term view of climate change. 
   2. Avoid major structural risks: We take the time to ensure that the fundamental structural elements of buildings are sound (or not sound in known ways that we have a plan to remedy).
   3. Minimise risks to food growing: We ensure that soil toxicity is not unduly high, and investigate other risks of pollution to air, soil and water in the context of our plans for food production. We also consider the risk of future development blocking our solar access.
   4. Appropriate level of financial risk: We consider budget and financial risk in the context of a changing world with possible economic shocks and attempt to keep financial risk to the collective within manageable levels. 

Review Conditions

This agreement will be reviewed in any of the following conditions (whichever comes first): 

• The collective agrees on a clear vision or mission statement
• The collective passes an agreement describing house theming, or who gets to live in each house.
• Prior to proposing a site purchasing agreement if this agreement has not otherwise been reviewed in the last year.

Context Questions & Assumptions

Does this apply to all site purchases? What if we want to purchase something like a farm or a block of flats? What if someone wants to move an already retrofitted house into the collective?

• This has been written imagining the purchase of multiple suburban share-houses. If a different kind of site purchase is being planned (such a farm, a block of flats, or a commercial property) this agreement still applies but it is intended that we would amend it to better handle that situation.
• If an opportunity to acquire a site by different channels appears (receiving one in a will, a friendly sale from a collective member) this agreement should still be considered. We can make a major decision to ignore this agreement in a particular case, but should note that if it’s possible to amend this agreement instead, that will allow us to consider the general implications of what might seem like a one-off opportunity.