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.

For further information about housing co-operatives, please contact Linda Seaborn.

The BCCM is the Australian representative to Cooperative Housing International.

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.

• What’s a housing co-operative? – ABC Sydney, 22 May 2023
• How Australia could fix its housing problem – ABC News Daily Podcast, 22 May 2023
• 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