Using Co-ops to Combat Housing Crises (Canada)

Across Canada, housing costs are rising. Housing co-operatives have often been used to provide stable, affordable housing, and more people are interested in how co-ops can work in the current environment. Union Co-operative is a new housing co-op in Waterloo, Ontario that aims to provide permanent affordable housing by having members collectively purchase properties. Its Executive Director, Sean Campbell, spoke to us about this co-op, how it works, and what it hopes to provide in the context of an ever-increasing cost of living.

Click here to listen to the 25-minute podcast.

 

‘Accessible, Not Speculative’: Barcelona Housing Co-op Wins Architecture Award (Spain)

A Barcelona housing co-operative that had been in existence less than a year when Spain imposed one of Europe’s toughest lockdowns has won a prestigious architecture award after its model of community living thrived during the pandemic.

The wood-framed La Borda scheme of 28 apartments and several shared spaces has won the prestigious Mies van der Rohe prize for emerging architecture for a project that the awards committee described as “a transgressive … model based on co-ownership and co-management of shared resources and capacities”.

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Could Housing Co-ops Help Solve the Current Affordability Crisis? (Australia)

Denmark, Sweden, and Norway all use some form of cooperative housing to make sure their populations are housed appropriately.

We find out what could be adapted from those systems to help address the housing needs of Australians, without disrupting the current model of residential property investment as a way of building wealth.

Guests: Dr. Sidsel Grimstad, Senior Lecturer in the College of Human and Social Futures at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales and a Norwegian-born international expert on co-operative housing, and Professor Andrew Scott, Convenor of the Australia Institute’s Nordic Policy Centre

Click here to listen to the 18-minute podcast.