Documents on this page include the Constitution of Stellulata Pty Ltd, the Statement of Vision, Values and Principles and the Roles and Responsibilities of our decision-making circles (committees).
Constitution
Stellulata Cohousing is structured as a company with the residents of the three units each holding one-third of the shares. The first constitution for Stellulata Pty Ltd, in 2018, was quite basic. The company simply managed the rental of the house on our site, while applying to redevelop the property into a 3-dwelling cohousing community.
In 2021, when the group of three founding members had grown to six, we consulted Katie Innes of BAL Lawyers who had experience with other cooperative organisations around Australia. Together we designed a constitution that meets the requirements of the Corporations Act and also recognises our requirement for collaborative decision making.
Once construction was complete in 2025, the company registered with ASIC as a Home Unit Company which operates “to facilitate and enforce the rights of company members in relation to exclusive occupation of the residential areas of 24 Angas Street Ainslie and to maintain the common areas”.
Vision Statement
As with all cooperative communities, it was important for the members to agree on the principles that would guide our decision-making. We researched the experience of many cohousing communities around the world and based our first draft vision statement on six principles being mentioned at the time by Livewell Cohousing in Canada and others.
Our Statement of Vision, Values and Principles has helped us navigate many issues, big and small, and assisted us in resolving disagreements. The current version was modified in 2021 during the drafting of our constitution when our three founding members were officially joined by three more.
Roles and Responsibilities
The Stellulata community uses a consent-based model for virtually all decisions. The management structure is based on the Sociocracy system (see https://www.sociocracyforall.org/) where efficient processes allow all voices to be heard while ensuring that a proposal is only adopted if all members can live with it.
During design and construction, we adopted a limited set of “circles” (decision-making committees) in addition to our full community meetings. One person represents each unit on each circle but any member can attend any or all meetings. See Roles and responsibilities within the Stellulata cohousing community v3.pdf
After we moved in, the circle structure was expanded and then revised with experience. We now have committees for Finance (including all responsibilities of a Board of Directors), Shared Resources, Garden and Utilities.