About United Kingdom
West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative, Cambuslang, Glasgow
History
The Rochdale Pioneers founded the Cooperative Movement with the objective of building homes for their members. However, they initially established a store to provide basic necessities to members. This store started trading on 21 December 1844 which is now recognized globally as the beginning of the cooperative movement. The Rochdale Pioneer Land and Building Company constructed the first cooperative housing on Spotland Road in 1861. In 1867, the central Rochdale Equitable Pioneer Society had built eighty-four homes for members on Equitable Street and Pioneer Street in Rochdale and had already taken over the property built by the Pioneer Land and Building Company in 1869.
In the early 1900s, the tenant co-partnership movement brought about the second wave of cooperative housing development. Ealing Tenants Ltd, founded in 1901, built the first tenant co-partnership cooperative at Brentham Garden Suburb in Ealing. The cooperative was named after pioneering architect Ebenezer Howard and was closely linked to the Garden City movement.
Other well-known examples of co-partnership housing are at Hampstead Garden Suburb, now one of the most expensive parts of London, and Letchworth Garden City. However, the development of co-partnership housing was interrupted by the First World War. After the war, legislation granted the co-partnership movement equal access to government aid as council housing. Nonetheless, many councils decided to construct their own housing projects instead. The co-partnership movement eventually declined due to its reliance on funding from both tenants and non-resident investors.
The inter-war decades of the 1920s and 1930s saw the growth of the two dominant forms of tenure: council housing for working people and the emergence of homeownership for sale to the emerging middle classes. From the end of the Second World War to the mid-1970s, UK public housing policy was dominated by the encouragement of individual home ownership through tax relief on mortgage interest and the creation of a large portfolio of council housing (public housing) which at its peak in the 1970s provided homes for 31.5% of the population.
In the 1960s, a third wave of cooperative housing development emerged in the UK, with a focus on co-ownership housing. This form of housing allowed residents to genuinely own and manage their homes through monthly rental payments, which covered the costs of servicing the mortgage taken out by the cooperative to build their homes. The government also provided tax relief on the mortgage loan to make it more affordable. When residents left, they received a premium payment based on a formula in the lease. However, in the late 1970s, co-housing became less affordable due to rising interest rates and market house prices, which affected member premium payments. Over 40,000 homes were built under co-ownership arrangements, but most of these societies were dissolved in the early 1980s. This was due to a policy introduced by the Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, which allowed members to dissolve their society and become individual homeowners, often resulting in substantial financial benefits for those residing in the homes during the dissolution.
Compared to other European countries, the UK’s small fourth wave of housing cooperatives is relatively young. These ownership cooperatives were established in the 1970s and 1980s with the help of government assistance programs or through local action by small groups of cooperators. The government-funded programs were aimed at providing homes for low and mid-income families through not-for-profit housing associations, some of which were utilized to create housing cooperatives. In addition, a small group of housing cooperatives were developed without government assistance using member loans and mortgages to raise funds and growth. The political agenda changed in the 1990s favouring large-scale housing associations as the social housing delivery mechanism over housing cooperatives. Due to this, the creation of new ownership housing cooperatives came to a halt in the 1990s.
The UK’s fifth wave of cooperative housing started in the late 1980s with the establishment of estate management boards on local authority housing estates; the development of these early management cooperatives was further encouraged by the creation of a statutory Right to Manage for local authority tenants in 1994. There are currently 230 tenant management cooperatives managing a total of 87,000 homes mainly managing homes owned by local authorities although there are about 20 such cooperatives managing homes owned by housing associations.
The UK’s latest wave of cooperative housing started in 2010 when the government began creating funds to enable development, initially for conversion of empty properties and then through new build. The first new build cooperatives of this wave were developed in Wales where the devolved government created its programme for housing cooperative development 2 years before the English Community Housing Fund. This latest wave has seen a move to create a more diverse mix of cooperative housing schemes with varying tenure and pricing mixes and new legal frameworks such as mutual home ownership societies, community land trusts and cohousing schemes.
A fuller history of the development of housing cooperatives in the UK can be found in the report ‘Forging Mutual Futures – Co-operative & Mutual Housing in Practice; History and Potential’ published by Birmingham University and in ‘Bringing Democracy Home’ the report from the Commission on Co-operative and Mutual Housing. Further historical detail can also be found in ‘Common Ground for Mutual Home Ownership’ published by CDS Co-operatives.
Edward Henry House – Tenants of the community campaigning for cooperative housing on the Southbank of the Thames, Central London circa 1983
Context
For several years, the country has been facing major housing challenges. Housing supply simply does not meet demand, a situation made worse by demographic changes and population growth. As a result, the UK is facing serious problems with housing supply and affordability both for low and middle-income families. Council housing underwent significant investment in major capital repairs after years of underinvestment from 1979 to 1997. During the Labour government’s tenure from 1997 to 2010, government investment focused primarily on this issue. The present Conservative-led coalition has abandoned the last government’s target to build three million new homes by 2016 to meet demand and, as part of its austerity drive to reduce government debt, has cut investment in the national affordable housing programme over the next four years by 63%. All new homes built under the programme will be let at ‘Affordable Rents’, which will be up to 80% of market rents. In many places, these rents will not be affordable to working households.
In this context, the coop housing movement, in collaboration with other housing organisations, is proposing several innovative initiatives such as Community Land Trusts, Mutual Home Ownership and Community Gateway and Co-operative stock transfers. Issues such as availability of land and financing, appropriate legal framework, sustainable development and community engagement are being addressed by these initiatives, particularly in Wales which has a supportive Labour and Cooperative-led national government. However, like the US and other western economies new housing starts have fallen rapidly in the wake of the global financial crisis to the lowest number ever in peacetime since 1924, with just an estimated 120,000 new home starts last year in comparison to the previous government target of 246,000.
Ironically, the financial crisis may prove to be a stimulus for new housing cooperative development. Large housing associations, the main developers of new affordable housing in recent years, can no longer cross-subsidise development from profits on homes built for sale. Also, cooperatives have a unique status in UK law which should enable them to access investment from long-term investors, which may lead to the development of a new wave of cooperatives in which members have an equity stake similar to the co-ownership societies of the 1960s and 70s.
Perryview Housing Co-operative Limited, Crayford, Kent
Types of Housing Cooperatives
There is no specific legal structure for housing cooperatives in the UK. However, the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 (formerly the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965) under which all cooperatives are incorporated contains statutory protection of the cooperative principles and requires cooperatives to comply with the seven internationally adopted Co-operative Principles.
There are currently eight types of housing cooperatives in the UK:
- Ownership housing cooperatives;
- Tenant management cooperatives;
- Co-operative and mutual stock transfer organisations;
- Shortlife housing cooperatives;
- Self and custom build housing cooperatives;
- Student housing cooperatives;
- Mutual home ownership societies;
- Cohousing organisations.
1. Ownership Housing Cooperatives
With government assistance
Most ownership housing cooperatives were developed in the 1970s and 1980s with government assistance in the form of capital grants to make rents more affordable. Today, there are 223 housing cooperatives registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), the government agency responsible for regulating affordable housing providers in the UK. Because public funds were provided, the RSH regulates the operations of these cooperatives.
Key characteristics are:
- They are fully mutual (i.e. members must be tenants, and tenants must be members);
- They are owned, managed and controlled democratically by the members/tenants on a one-member, one-vote basis. Most elect a management committee (board of directors) although the smaller ones are run by general meetings. The majority employ staff or buy operational services from specialist agencies or housing associations;
- The members/tenants collectively own the property but each member/tenant does not have individual equity in the property;
- They are typically quite small (an average of 40 homes) although some are as large as 400 homes.
Without government assistance
A small portfolio of around 50 ownership housing cooperatives was developed without public funding. These housing cooperatives are financed through mortgages and member loans. The most effective enabling structure for these cooperatives is Radical Routes which along with an investment tool (Rootstock) has enabled most of this type of housing cooperative to develop.
Key characteristics are:
- They are fully mutual;
- They are communal housing used based within five or less houses;
- Their investment tool can lend them around 20% to 30% of the purchase value.
2. Tenant Management Cooperatives
Legislation adopted in 1994 gave all tenants of council housing the legal Right to Manage their homes and estates collectively, giving tenants management and maintenance responsibilities for the first time. In addition, some housing associations have agreed voluntary management arrangements with their tenants.
Key characteristics are:
- The ownership of the properties remains with the local authority or housing associations, but the management is done by the cooperative through a legally framed Management Agreement;
- A feasibility study is carried out as well as an assessment of tenants’ interest as a first step. A proposal is presented to the tenants, which includes the feasibility study and the management functions that the cooperative will provide; the cooperative is formed by a majority vote;
- The cooperative has the option to take on management responsibilities gradually through the Management Agreement which also includes a financial arrangement (management allowance) to cover the costs of the transferred management activities;
- The Management Agreement is signed for five years after which tenants are asked to evaluate the arrangement to determine whether they wish to maintain the agreement;
- Tenant management housing cooperatives democratically elect the board of directors or management committee, which is entirely composed of tenants.
3. Stock Transfer Housing Cooperatives, Community Gateway and Community Mutual Housing Associations
Stock transfer of council housing to non-governmental housing associations was introduced in 1988. The impetus behind the initiative was the need to renovate the housing stock under the control of local councils and the borrowing limitations placed on them by the UK government. Improved governance was also another factor in the transfer from local government to non-government management.
Stock transfer is a voluntary process and the tenants are involved in the decision-making process. The transfer is done to a registered low-cost rental housing provider – a status given to organisations registered with and regulated by the government regulator, the RSH.
The selling formula of council housing properties to registered providers was complex and based on a “discounted cash-flow model of valuation deriving from income and expenditure projections over a thirty-year period.” Sometimes, the cost of repairs and outstanding debts create a negative equity and the transfer is done at no cost, plus a grant to the not-for-profit registered provider or housing cooperative. When the value is positive, the registered provider borrows money to finance the transfer from the private finance market, although this may now be hard to come by for future transfers.
The stock transfer is achieved through the Community Gateway and Mutual Models, pioneered by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing. These models offer a systematic approach to help with the transfer of council housing stock.
4. Shortlife Housing Cooperatives
Shortlife housing cooperatives, most of which are in London or the South of England, take over properties that are not commercially rentable, for a limited period. The cooperative does not own the properties but has a licence or tenancy with the landlord. The tenant members are responsible for keeping the property in good order and carrying out minor repairs.
Like ownership housing cooperatives, short-life cooperatives are registered as cooperative societies under the provisions of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2104, with members having a ‘par value’ nominal £1 non-equity share in the cooperative. Short-life cooperatives have declined in numbers in recent years because landlords, mainly local councils or other public bodies have been taking the housing back for improvement or sale.
5. Self and Custom-built Housing Cooperatives
Self and custom-built housing cooperatives are housing organisations where the members are involved in building some or all of their properties. The labour that they put into building their properties gives them “sweat equity” in the form of a percentage of the property. They also pay rent for the operating costs. Only a small number of self and custom-built housing cooperatives exist and each has different arrangements, mainly in partnership with a registered provider of low-cost rental housing (a housing association).
6. Student Housing Cooperatives
In the 1970s, the UK saw the formation of its first student housing cooperatives. However, by the 1980s, many of these either converted to standard ownership housing cooperatives or ceased to exist.
The current wave of student housing cooperatives is small but growing, with the first one being developed only in 2014. At present, there are five student housing cooperatives in the UK, providing accommodation to over 130 student members.
The unique feature of a student housing cooperative is that once a property is secured, students can live in the housing cooperative for the entire duration of their studies, plus an additional year after graduation. This offers long-term tenancies, which minimizes the usual transitory nature of the student community. It also enables mixed-year groups to cohabit, learn, and share skills.
7 Mutual Home Ownership Societies
Mutual Home Ownership Societies (MHOS) is a new affordable cooperative equity-based model. This model, first proposed by the New Economics Foundation and CDS Co-operatives in the early 2000s, lays out the case for intermediate housing that guarantees affordability in perpetuity for its members. The model represents a significant departure in terms of mainstream tenure types currently available. The MHOS is owned and managed by its members; each member has a lease which gives the right to occupy a specified house or flat owned by the MHOS. Under the terms of the lease, each member makes an initial deposit payment which is converted to an equity stake and they make monthly payments to the MHOS which will pay the MHOS’s management costs, finance costs and loan repayments and build the member’s equity stake to a maximum value of the property they occupy. The value of the equity stake is pegged to ensure ongoing affordability for future generations of members who buy into the MHOS over time.
8. Cohousing Organisations
Cohousing organisations are intentional communities, created and run by their residents. Each household owns, rents or builds equity in a self-contained, private home as well as shared community space and will have access to the communal (common) house. Residents manage their community through a collective structure (a cooperative or company structure), share activities and regularly eat together.
Financing
Under the Coalition government’s new ‘Affordable Rent’ regime, government grants from the government’s Homes and Communities Agency are only available to registered providers of affordable housing that have the assets to raise substantial sums of private finance. Given the shortage of funding available from commercial banks, registered providers are turning to the bond markets to raise funds through long-term bond issues. The level of grant funding has also been reduced because of the higher ‘Affordable Rents’ (up to 80% of the open market rent for similar properties) which registered providers bidding for grant funding are now required to charge for new homes. This makes it very difficult for small housing cooperatives to arrange funding for rental housing. The only new cooperative rental housing that is likely to be produced under this new ‘Affordable Rent’ regime will be where a registered provider uses its financial capacity to develop a cooperative. The Confederation of Co-operative Housing is working with the HCA to encourage registered providers to consider developing cooperatives where there is support for them from the local authority, but only a small number of registered providers have indicated an interest in this initiative.
The future financing of housing cooperatives in the UK is currently the subject of much research and debate. A report on the future funding options for housing cooperatives produced by the finance working group of the Commission on Co-operative and Mutual Housing can be found at https://www.housinginternational.coop/resources/financing-co-operative-and-mutual-housing/
Legal Framework
The legal instruments for the coop housing sector are:
Industrial and Provident Societies (IPS) Act 1965 – it is specifically designed for coops and societies set up for the benefit of members (a cooperative) or for the benefit of the community.
Cooperatives can also register as non-profit companies limited by guarantee. (A number of cooperatives, particularly ones financed by members without government grants, have chosen this registration option because of easier administration available under Companies Act legislation, although this advantage has been largely removed by improvements in the arrangements for the administration of Industrial and Provident Societies).
Housing cooperatives do not have their own special legislative framework in housing or property law and operate, like other landlords, under landlord and tenant legislation. The special democratic nature of ‘fully mutual housing cooperatives – (legally called ‘cooperative housing associations’) is recognized by their exclusion from statutory forms of tenancy and the statutory protection of tenant rights. A fully mutual cooperative is one where the rules of the cooperative require that all tenants be members and that only members can be tenants. Ownership cooperatives and short-life cooperatives tend to be registered as fully mutual cooperatives. Members of tenant management cooperatives have statutory secure tenancies because they remain tenants of their council landlord. Community Gateway associations are registered under rules that do not require all tenants to be members, so their members have statutory assured tenancies, like the tenants of other registered providers of low-cost rental (housing associations) registered with the HCA.
All cooperatives that have provided housing with grant funding from the government must be registered with and regulated by the HCA.
The Cooperative Housing Movement
Founded in 1993, the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH) is the UK organisation representing housing cooperatives. Its membership is open to housing cooperatives, regional federations of housing cooperatives and resident-controlled housing organisations.
CCH promotes the excellent work done by cooperative housing organisations. It fosters communication between its members and serves the sector, campaigning for quality cooperative solutions to meet the housing needs of communities across the United Kingdom.
The Co-operative Development Society Limited (CDS Co-operatives) is a cooperative housing membership-based organization that provides support services to housing coops.
The Co-operative & Community Finance offers democratically owned funds providing loan finance to create social benefit.
Resources Tagged "United Kingdom"
New Report: Rethinking Housing Development Through Community-Led Place Stewardship
Developed with the Community Land Trust Network (England & Wales) and Dark Matter Labs, this research explores community-led place stewardship as a transformative alternative to private management companies in large housing developments.
Key insights:
87% of large UK housing developments rely on private management companies, often criticized for poor value and accountability.
Community-led stewardship via community land trusts offers a proven, not-for-profit alternative that reduces opposition to large-scale house building.
Includes 5 UK case studies, practical scenarios for councils and developers, and lessons from Europe.
Read More
Research Europe Report
The anniversary publication, The Confederation of Co-operative Housing: 30 Years of Hope, Inspiration and Belief, reflects on CCH’s journey from its inception in the early 1990s in response to shifting government policies. The report highlights CCH’s resilience and evolution, adapting to both support its members and advocate for cooperative housing models as a credible alternative to traditional housing frameworks.Read More
Advocacy United Kingdom Report
This study by the Centre for Urban & Regional Studies explores the potential of housing cooperatives and mutual models to address these issues in the UK. It reviews past cooperative housing efforts, identifies factors affecting their success and sustainability, and assesses the potential of expanding these models to provide affordable, sustainable housing solutions.Read More
History United Kingdom Research Paper
A Code of Governance outlines a framework for an organization to govern itself effectively. It involves defining and reviewing the purpose, mission, vision, values, structures, standards, policies, strategies, financial arrangements, and potential risks.Read More
Governance United Kingdom Educational
Five reports investigate housing policy from other countries for solutions to the UK’s housing shortage. Each of the five reports is a comparative study of housing policy internationally with a particular focus on Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.Read More
Policy Australia Report
The policy guidance covers governance, finance, membership, housing management, repairs and maintenance, and agency and employee management. It includes information relevant to different tenures and is aimed at community-led housing organizations.Read More
Governance Europe Educational
The Brighton & Hove Community Land Trust (BHCLT) resources page hosts a variety of materials on community-led housing, cooperative models, and land trusts. It provides case studies, guides, policy documents, and research reports to support individuals and groups interested in sustainable and affordable housing solutions in the Brighton & Hove area. Read More
Advocacy United Kingdom Educational
Resident satisfaction surveys continue to be an essential tool used to shape services, improve ways of working and enhance the customer experience or residents across the housing sector. In 2011, HouseMark launched what is now the ...Read More
Research United Kingdom Research Paper
These five booklets cover basic communication concepts, making meetings more effective, dealing with conflict, improving communication, and the vital role of the board.Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom Educational
The aim of this masters thesis by Dave Smith is to establish an emerging, consistent typology that could be termed an ‘English Community Land Trust’ – one distinct from that of other affordable housing providers; congruen ...Read More
Research United Kingdom
A Scottish study, published in 2019, contains case studies demonstrating how housing co-ops in Glasgow and Edinburgh have delivered benefits for Scottish communities and calls on the Scottish government to encourage more of them. The sector is still very limited, with just 11 registered and several more unregistered housing co-ops in Scotland, compared with 685 across the UK.Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
This essay does not pretend to be a work of original research or even of comprehensive synthesis and interpretation. It does aim to pull together selected points of view about Rochdale to give readers a convenient point of entry into some complex issues.Read More
Governance Canada
Find out how local councils in the UK are co-operating with communities to generate more affordable housing and make use of government funding for community-led housing in these various case studies. ...Read More
Community United Kingdom
Wales needs more homes, particularly homes that are affordable for people on low to middle incomes. Welsh Government has committed to delivering 20,000 affordable homes during the current Welsh Government term. Building on rich tr ...Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
The 'Community-led Housing: a key Role for Local Authorities' report gives an introduction to community-led housing in the UK and how it comes into being, including the different types of funding available. It sets out how CLH can help local authorities achieve their strategic priorities and gives examples of how authorities can enable or support it. It also provides sources of further guidance and good practice. The report is supported by 12 case studies from England, Scotland and Wales.Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom Report
Mutuality & accountability in the housing association sector is the report of the Mutual Governance:Mutual Outcomes project, set up to explore the value of mutuality in mutual housing associations in the UK. Mutual housing associa ...Read More
Management United Kingdom
British-American Peer-to-Peer Exchange: Sharing Best Practices and Strategies among the Leading Affordable Housing Developers and Owners The exchange, which was sponsored by the Housing Partnership Network (US) and the National Ho ...Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
Paul Chatterton teaches in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, with interests in campaigning techniques, urban social movements, urban development and how city centres are being privatised and corporatised, as we ...Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
This report examines the current financing of social housing and contrasts it with other European countries (chapter 3), highlights some key issues that may affect the current financing model (chapter 4), outlines existing and new ...Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
No two co-operative and mutual housing schemes are the same. Part of what makes it successful is its ability to enable local people to develop housing in the way that is right for them.Read More
Community United Kingdom
Community-led Housing projects are run by individual community groups determined to build the types of homes that local people need and want. These projects are aimed at solving local problems through local control. Community-led ...Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
This report by the Smith Institute highlights how community-led housing schemes in the UK have successfully met the needs and aspirations of local groups and communities. The research reveals that developments are innovative, have ...Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
This directory of cooperative and community-led housing is an impressive and very diverse list put together by CHI member Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH). Read how schemes were developed, where they got their funding, who they worked with, who lives in them and how they live there. Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
New-Co-operative-and-Community-led-Homes-2017 is a basic guide for community groups, local authorities, housing associations, housing co-operatives and others in the UK who are interested in exploring the development of new co-operative and community-led homes.Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
This report presents the findings on the public perceptions of co-operative housing in Wales. For those who want to learn more about the sector it sets the scene, provides cases studies and gives a set of practical recommendations to take this forward across Wales.Read More
Financing and Development United Kingdom
LILAC, a housing co-op located in Leeds, England is a good case study not only of a different model of co-op housing as well as sustainable technology and practices. David Rodgers, former president of CHI and former London Borough ...Read More
Sustainability United Kingdom
L'habitat coopératif offre des logements abordables à long terme, gérés par les résidents, avec des avantages sociaux, économiques et environnementaux avérés. Malgré son impact mondial, ce secteur reste méconnu.Read More
Financing and Development Global Report
Explore public policies supporting cooperative housing worldwide in this comprehensive report. Discover how governments and cooperatives collaborate to create sustainable and affordable housing solutions globally.Read More
Research Global Research Paper
The Commission's final report on Cooperative and Mutual Housing (Bringing Democracy Home) highlighted the need for consideration of the role that cooperative and mutual housing could play in the national housing strategy. The Fina ...Read More
Financing and Development Global Report
Par cette publication, nous souhaitons ouvrir le débat sur le logement en tant que droit fondamental et enjeu métropolitain, en mettant en lumière l’expérience de grandes métropoles et dans l’espoir d’inspirer des idées nouvelles pour aborder cet enjeu absolument fondamental de l’urbanisation moderne.Read More
Advocacy Global
In 2000, United Nations (UN) member states recognised the need to build global partnerships for development and the exchange of expertise as one of the Millennium Development Goals. Across the international development field, part ...Read More
Financing and Development Global
New report: The Capital Conundrum for Co-operatives "The Capital Conundrum for Co-operatives", a new report released by the Alliance’s Blue Ribbon Commission explores ideas and options available to co-operatives that need suitab ...Read More
Financing and Development Global
Financing the development of housing co-operatives is a challenge and more so in time of financial restrictions and uncertainty. CHI members discussed the issue during a seminar held in November 2009 in Geneva. Presentations w ...Read More
Financing and Development Global
The Forest Products Annual Market Review 2013 reports that the development of new refinement processes has led to the production of new and more affordable wood based products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT). The report sta ...Read More
Sustainability Global
Updated Guidance Notes on the Co-operative Principles, edited by David Rodgers, former President of Co-operative Housing InternationalRead More
Governance Global
The ILO views cooperatives as important in improving the living and working conditions of women and men globally as well as making essential infrastructure and services available even in areas neglected by the state and investor-driven enterprises. Cooperatives have a proven record of creating and sustaining employment – they provide over 100 million jobs today; they advance the ILO’s Global Employment Agenda and contribute to promoting decent work.Read More
Legal Global
Cooperative housing offers long-term, affordable homes governed by residents, with proven social, economic, and environmental benefits. Despite its global impact, the sector remains under-recognized.Read More
Financing and Development Europe Report
Student housing cooperatives have become very popular in the USA and many of these housing co-operatives are members of organizations such as NASCO. Unlike a resident who acquires shares at market rates to earn the right to occupy ...Read More
Community Global
The Good Governance Charter for Housing Co-operatives was launched at the ICA Housing Plenary in Manchester in November 2012.It has three parts:A 10-point set of good governance practicesAn interpretive statement for each good p ...Read More
Governance Global
This second volume of Housing Co-operative Profiles focuses on African countries, showcasing the ingenuity and commitment of cooperators working under difficult conditions. It offers insights into the legal, financial, and historical contexts of housing co-ops, aiming to inspire broader adoption of the model as a solution to the global housing crisis.Read More
Community Global Report
The Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade is a worldwide campaign to “take the co-operative way of doing business to a new level”. The five key elements of the Blueprint are participation, sustainability, identity, legal frameworks and capital. The Blueprint is particularly relevant to co-operative housing and the Blueprint interpretation for co-operative housing below explains how.Read More
Governance Global
