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ICA Housing Symposium – Financing for Housing Co-operatives: The Challenge in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis

London, England

October 07, 2010 - October 08, 2010

Ninety delegates, including participants from fifteen countries and four continents, attended the ICA Housing Symposium held in London on 7th and 8th October at the IET conference centre in Savoy Place, London WC2.

Programme and speaker information is available here.

On day one, the finance day, the Symposium heard about continued public sector investment in co-operative housing in Austria and Canada, innovative funding arrangements created by the co-operative housing sector in Italy and harnessing member investment through co-operative saving and housing organisations in Germany and Sweden.

Day two of the Symposium discussed six exemplar housing co-operative responses to the climate change challenge with examples from England, Canada, Holland and Indonesia, and Sweden. The exemplar from Sweden was inspiring: HSB Riksförbund’s climate train used to educate members and the general public about how to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. HSB Riksförbund is the larger of the two national co-operative housing organisations in Sweden with five hundred thousand members. A short video of its climate train can be seen on YouTube

The keynote speech at the Symposium was given by Charles Gould, the new Director General of the ICA, who spoke of the resilience and growth of all types of co-operative enterprises in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. The final keynote speech was given by Dame Pauline Green, the President of the ICA who outlined plans for 2012 which has been declared by the United Nations to be the International Year of Co-operatives.

“A key benefit of membership of a global co-operative organisation, like the ICA, is the opportunity to share expertise and best practice with colleagues from other countries around the world” said David Rodgers, ICA Housing’s elected President and CEO of CDS Co-operatives in London, England. “Our Symposium was enjoyable, informative and achieved its objective of being an international forum for the exchange of information on exemplar initiatives” said Rodgers.

Thursday 7 October 2010
Financing for Housing Co-operatives:  The Challenge in the aftermath of the global financial crisis

UK Perspective on financing housing development –

the point of view of two leaders

Professor Steve Wilcox – Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, (England)

Adrian Coles – Chair, Commission on Co-operative and Mutual Housing, Director General, Building Societies Association (England)

Co-operative approaches to raising investment for housing – Encouraging continuing state investment

A successful lobbying campaign for co-op housing renovation – Nicholas Gazzard, Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, Vice President, ICA Housing

The ethical housing fund established by Cooperhousing Foundation – Luciano Caffini, President ANCAB, National Association of Housing Co-operatives (Italy), President, Co-operatives Section, CECODHAS Housing Europe

Harnessing member investment

Franz-Bernd Große-Wilde – Spar- und Bauverein eG Dortmund, Berlin (Germany)

Mårten Lilja – Riksbyggen (Sweden)

A Housing Policy FIT for the Big Society
Stephen HillDirector, C2O futureplanners

Friday 8 October 2010
Co-operative responses to the climate change challenge

The climate change challenge and the International Co-operative Alliance’s response to it

Bob Burlton – Principal, ACT! (Co-operatives Addressing the Climate Threat), former Chair, Co-operative Financial Services (England)

Six exemplar climate change initiatives

Initiative 1: Reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2023Linn Matic, Senior Advisor Housing Policy, HSB Riksförbund – National Association of Housing Co-operatives (Sweden)

Initiative 2: Reducing carbon emissions by 60% – Sanford Housing Co-operative Ltd, winner of Inside Housing Magazine’s “most sustainable affordable housing regeneration project” award 2008, Jim Noble, Chair, Sanford Housing Co-operative, New Cross, London (England)

Initiative 3: A Carbon Neutral co-operative housing federation, Thom Armstrong, Executive Director, Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia (Canada)

Initiative 4: Zero Carbon in design and use: an exemplar project – the Pines Calyx Centre, St Margaret’s Bay, Dover and the extension of zero carbon design to community housing projects, Alistair Gould, Chair, Chairman, The Bay Trust, St Margaret’s Bay, Dover (England)

Initiative 5: The Borneo Initiative – implementing sustainable forestry through certification, Wim Ellenbroek, Programme Director, The Borneo Initiative, Breukelen (The Netherlands)

Initiative 6: LILAC Mutual Home Ownership Society, Leeds – proposals for Ecohousing straw bale homes owned by a Mutual Home Ownership Society, Dr Paul Chatterton & Dr Tash Gordon, Founder Members, LILAC (England)

Closing Keynote speech – The United Nations International Year of Co-operatives 2012
Dame Pauline Green, President, International Co-operative Alliance, Geneva, Switzerland.

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