The Age & SMH: The missing middle that could help fix the housing crisis
We were recently featured in The Sydney Morning Herald & The Age as part of a feature on how different housing co-operative models have the potential to deliver more affordable and better quality housing into the Australian market.
The story touches on three different types of housing co-op structure:
- Rental co-operatives (mostly subsidised social housing run by Commuity Housing Organisations like Common Equity Housing Limited in Victoria and Common Equity Housing NSW),
- Limited equity or "shared equity" housing co-operatives which form significant parts of the private housing market in cities like Zurich and Vienna and throughout northern Europe and in parts of Canada and the US. We recently conducted this feasibility study on whether this structure is feasible in an Australian context.
- "Terminating" housing co-operatives which we refer to as "building groups" - these groups are run as a co-operative (by the members for the members) during the build phase which each member entitled to a home at the end of the process. Each member has a vote on the management committee, ensuring participation and control over the development process.
To read the article click here if you have a subscription and click here if you are not a subscriber.
Thanks to the Business Council of Co-ops and Mutuals (BCCM) team for their tireless work in boosting awareness of how these alternative housing models have the potential to deliver better housing outcomes. The story appeared as a follow up piece to the Federal Affordable Housing Policy Roundtable, organised by BCCM with the Parliamentary Friends of Co-operatives & Mutuals which sought to raise the profile of the good work done by the sector across the housing spectrum.