Housing
Co-operative housing providers…
- Are affordable housing providers
- Provide decent homes for key workers and first time buyers
- Is a model of housing that pools people’s resources and builds strong communities
- Puts tenants in control of their homes
Are affordable housing providers
In Australia and overseas, housing co-operatives have been effective financial managers of housing for decades because tenants have a sense of ownership and control in their management.
Provide decent homes for key workers and first-time buyers
Develop affordable housing to deliver new dwellings for key workers and other moderate income earners.
Is a model of housing that pools people’s resources and builds strong communities
The long-term involvement of tenants with their homes and their community is beneficial to people providing a sense of place and commitment. In addition, the skills developed in operating their own enterprise assist with confidence building that often leads to employment and a more varied income stream.
Puts tenants in control of their homes
In addition to social benefits, housing co-operatives can deliver services effectively and efficiently while increasing consumer choice and control.
The co-operative housing model is highly diverse, but is first and foremost an ownership structure which can complement varying degrees of resident self-management, co-housing, co-design etc.
Do you want to start an equity housing co-op? Contact the BCCM.
Co-op housing in the news
At a time when affordable and accessible housing is out of the reach of many people and families, housing co-operatives are helping first-home buyers and key workers to access viable housing options. Housing co-ops also build strong communities around common goals and empower tenants to have a sense of ownership over their dwellings.
- Co-housing project in Hobart offers affordable rentals and sense of community, ABC, 6 June 2022
- Sidsel Grimstad discusses if innovative Scandinavian co-op housing solutions could work in Australia, Life Matters, ABC Radio, 3 May 2022
- More affordable housing with less homelessness is possible – if only Australia would learn from Nordic nations, The Conversation, 29 May 2022
- Housing co-ops could solve Canada’s housing affordability crisis, The Conversation, 20 April 2022
- Culturally specific independent living units planned for Aboriginal community in regional Victoria, ABC, 30 March 2022
Housing examples
Co-operation Housing
Common Equity Housing Limited (CEHL)
Common Equity Housing SA
Common Equity NSW
PaRA Co-operative Limited
Housing resources
Housing the 'missing middle'
Co-operative housing a preferred option for low-income older Australians
BCCM’s Housing Blueprint
Housing Cooperatives and the Cooperative Identity
The Nordic Edge: What Australia Can Learn from Nordic Countries
For many years, it has been said that the Nordic Countries have pioneered public policy and initiatives that have made them equal, happier, wealthier and more environmentally responsible. In Australia, the public discourse on work/life balance, climate change, mining taxes, independent and humanitarian foreign policy, prison reform, gender equality, retraining for workforce participation and media diversity have been highly partisan and often rancorous – resulting in the phenomenon of the “culture wars’’. Yet in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland this policy shift has been far more consensual across their political spectrum. Nordic countries have taken a “ja, we can’’ approach to these and other issues. Their experience shows that progress in these areas is not only possible, but that it can be achieved while increasing prosperity and community wellbeing. Watch this webinar from the Australian Institute of International Affairs (Queensland branch).
