What Does Cooperative Housing Need to Thrive? Insights from CHI’s Webinar on Legal Frameworks
On 9 June 2026, Cooperative Housing International (CHI) hosted a webinar exploring the findings of The Law on Cooperative Housing, the first report produced under the International Legal Research and Analysis Initiative (ILRAI). Developed by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) with support from the European Union, the report provides a comparative analysis of cooperative housing legal frameworks across countries and regions.
The webinar brought together contributors to the report — Julie LaPalme, Tomasz Marzec, and Santosh Kumar — alongside regional perspectives from Blase Lambert (United Kingdom), Dr. Ajibola Akanji (Nigeria) and Mauricio De La Barra (Chile).
Together, they explored a central question: what conditions allow cooperative housing to emerge, grow and remain true to its purpose over time?
Beyond Legal Recognition
The ILRAI report was developed to provide a common framework for comparing housing cooperative legislation across countries. Looking at issues such as governance, tenure, financing, taxation, oversight and public policy, the research sought to identify both enabling conditions and recurring barriers.
As several speakers noted, strong cooperative housing systems are rarely the result of legislation alone. While clear legal recognition provides certainty for members, lenders and public authorities, successful housing cooperatives also depend on access to suitable finance, land, supportive institutions and sector capacity.
As Julie LaPalme noted, “a law can open the door, but it does not build the ecosystem by itself.” The discussion repeatedly returned to this idea: legislation matters, but it must be accompanied by institutions, financing mechanisms and policies that enable cooperatives to thrive.
Presenting the comparative findings of the study, Dr. Tomasz Marzec highlighted several recurring patterns across regions. Clear legal recognition, appropriate financing mechanisms and coherent public policies consistently emerged as the foundations of successful cooperative housing systems. Conversely, gaps in legal recognition, limited access to finance and weak policy alignment were among the most common barriers identified across countries.
Different Contexts, Common Challenges
Regional perspectives from the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Chile illustrated how cooperative housing develops under very different legal and institutional conditions.
Drawing on the UK experience, Blase Lambert highlighted the importance of sector institutions in supporting housing cooperatives. In the absence of a dedicated cooperative housing tenure, federations, model rules and governance support have helped cooperatives remain viable, accountable and resilient over time.
Reflecting on the African context, Dr. Ajibola Akanji stressed that legal frameworks do not evolve in isolation. He highlighted the importance of advocacy, political engagement and stronger links between housing and cooperative legislation to ensure that research findings are translated into policy and practice. The discussion underscored the need to build stronger bridges between evidence, policymaking and implementation.
Chile provided a particularly interesting example. Mauricio De La Barra explained how housing cooperatives have developed despite the absence of a dedicated housing cooperative law and specialised financing instruments. Organisations such as CONAVICOOP have nevertheless delivered significant results, developing more than 70,000 housing units over the past five decades. At the same time, he pointed to the need for clearer rules and more dedicated financing mechanisms to unlock further growth and provide greater certainty for the sector.
Together, these regional perspectives demonstrated that while legal frameworks differ significantly, many of the challenges facing cooperative housing are remarkably similar.
Housing Rights, Cooperative Identity and Public Policy
Another important theme was the relationship between housing rights, public policy and cooperative identity.
Santosh Kumar Padmanabhan highlighted that housing is increasingly recognised as a human right within international frameworks, but that recognition alone does not guarantee access to adequate housing. The strongest cooperative housing sectors tend to be those where housing rights are supported by complementary frameworks addressing land access, finance, tenure security and cooperative development.
Participants also raised questions about the relationship between cooperative housing and broader public housing objectives. The discussion explored how housing cooperatives can collaborate with governments and contribute to national housing goals while preserving their democratic governance, autonomy and long-term stewardship principles. These questions resonated across several countries, reflecting growing interest in ensuring that cooperative housing is recognised not simply as a housing delivery mechanism, but as a distinct model rooted in member control and collective ownership.
The discussion also touched on broader challenges facing the sector, including the commodification of housing and the need to preserve affordable, non-speculative housing solutions over the long term. Participants agreed that cooperative housing has an important role to play in addressing these challenges, provided that the legal and policy environment enables it to do so.
Looking Ahead
The webinar attracted participants from across the cooperative housing movement, including countries currently exploring new legal frameworks and cooperative housing initiatives. Questions from Belgium, Mexico and other countries highlighted a growing interest in understanding how legal frameworks can support the development of cooperative housing.
One recurring theme was the value of international exchange. Whether discussing legal recognition, financing mechanisms, governance models or public policy, participants repeatedly highlighted the importance of learning from experiences across regions while adapting solutions to local realities.
The ILRAI report represents an important step in that process. By providing a comparative analysis of cooperative housing frameworks across countries, it offers policymakers, practitioners and cooperative organisations a stronger evidence base for future reforms and advocacy efforts.
The discussion concluded with a shared understanding that cooperative housing is not simply a legal form or a housing product. It is an ecosystem built on democratic governance, long-term affordability, supportive institutions and enabling public policies. Strengthening that ecosystem remains one of the key challenges—and opportunities—for the cooperative housing movement worldwide.
Missed the webinar? You can rewatch it here.
Curtesy of our speakers, you can find their presentations below: