Understanding Legal Frameworks for Cooperative Housing: Insights from the ILRAI Report

Legal and institutional frameworks play a decisive role in shaping how cooperative housing can emerge, develop and scale across countries. Yet, these frameworks vary widely, and in some contexts they enable progress—while in others they remain a significant barrier.

Drawing on the findings of the International Legal Research and Analysis Initiative (ILRAI), this webinar explores what makes cooperative housing possible in practice. It examines key enabling conditions, identifies persistent gaps, and highlights how different legal and institutional approaches influence the development of the sector across regions.

Bringing together contributors to the report and practitioners from different contexts, the session offers a comparative, multi-regional perspective while connecting research insights to real-world experience. It also reflects CHI’s role as a bridge between research and practice, and between established and emerging models of cooperative housing.

The webinar provides a space for a focused discussion on the conditions needed to support and scale cooperative housing, contributing to an ongoing international exchange on its development.

The webinar builds on the findings of the ILRAI report, which participants may wish to consult in advance.

Draft programme (Time: 15:00–17:00 CET)

15:00 – 15:10
Welcome and introduction

• Andreea Nacu, CHI Secretariat Coordinator

15:10 – 15:45
The Law on Cooperative Housing: Key insights

• Julie LaPalme, report coordinator
• Tomasz Marzec, Lawyer and Scholar at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland
• Santosh Kumar, Director of Legislation ICA & report coordinator
• Prof. Hagan Henry, Chairperson ICA Cooperative Law Committee

15:45 – 16:15
From research to practice

• Nigeria: Ajibola Akanji, Attorney, Lecturer at Lead City University, Ibadan
• The UK: Blase Lambert, Confederation of Co-operative Housing
• Chile: Mauricio De La Barra, General Manager, Conavicoop

16:15 – 16:55
Discussion with speakers

16:55 – 17:00
Closing

➡️ You can register here.