Chapter 04 · People & supply chainsHuman Rights & Social Sustainability
Cooperative housing
Definition
Cooperative housing is housing owned or leased by a cooperative whose members are its residents. Instead of holding individual title, residents own shares in the cooperative and participate in its governance, typically on a one-member-one-vote basis. Models range from limited-equity co-ops that keep homes permanently affordable, to market-rate and leasing (zero-equity) cooperatives and resident-owned communities of manufactured housing.
References
definition and model types
tenure mechanics and governance
Overview
What it means
Housing treated as a collectively governed asset rather than a speculative commodity, with costs kept at non-profit levels.
How it is used
More than 1. 5 million US homes sit within cooperative structures; housing co-ops are also widespread in Europe and feature in affordable-housing and community land strategies.
Why it matters
Cooperative tenure can deliver durable affordability, resident control and community stability — key social-sustainability outcomes in housing markets under affordability stress.