The AVFO:s appointed ‘FAMC’ has released drafts for a new Housing Policy & Mandate. If the group manages to implement these documents some of the proposed changes would be;
The elimination of the Housing Board from the Housing Group. The proposed mandate would create a ‘Housing Advisory Group’ that would be made up of 5 Aurovilians majorly from the AVFO’s ‘working groups’. However, this group would only exist to advise the AVFO’s appointed ‘FAMC’ on “policy and strategic goals”, with operational responsibilities being delegated to ‘Housing Service’ and ‘FAMC’ becoming the final decision-makers in most situations.
All references to the AV Council are removed and AVFO’s ‘FAMC’ are the final arbiters of all appeals – meaning that they are the body reviewing their own decisions in case of conflict.
Stewardship is recast as a “privilege” which can be revoked by AVFO’s ‘FAMC’ under certain conditions, set by themselves.
The financial management of Housing Service funds will be dealt with by the Housing Service.
There are changes to the definitions of when a steward is deemed to have left Auroville for good.
An Aurovilian has reviewed the 2023 draft policy in comparison to the 2011 community-approved policy and has given their opinion on the changes and what they could mean in practice. You can find this document here. They note that:
“The proposed elimination of the Housing Board as a decision-making power raises a number of concerns. The Housing Board was created via community-approved processes with the purpose of providing accountability to the community and rooting out issues of favouritism and mismanagement of assets. The forcible takeover of both the FAMC & the Housing Board means that the community now has no say in how decision-makers are selected or held to account and there is a lack of transparency about how decisions are made within both groups.”