The organisation of housing co-operatives commenced up to 150 years ago in several European countries as a means to overcome slum or poor housing conditions and to provide affordable, good quality, housing accommodation for members.

Housing co-operatives now form distinct sectors in many countries, seeking to ameliorate market forces by improving the supply of housing, with both rental and ownership forms of tenure.

Unlike public or philanthropic and voluntary housing endeavours, co-operatives have relied mainly on self-help and mutual effort to organise and develop effective enterprises for the relief of members’ housing needs. These are still core aspects of the operation of housing co-operatives as member / user organisations.

Co-operatives have proven to be an effective means to deliver and manage large numbers of dwelling units, in the form of housing estates and apartment buildings, with the member/residents involved in the management and upkeep of the housing investment made.

A survey conducted by Co-operatives Europe in the year 2007, indicated that there are over 15,000 co-operative housing enterprises in Europe, with 5.1 million members and 38,000 employees.  For more international information, please visit http://www.icahousing.org and http://www.coopseurope.coop

The co-operative housing sector in Ireland has its origins in the formation of local co-operative utility societies to build group schemes of affordable ownership houses for members with modest incomes. The operation of these home-ownership building co-operative societies can be traced back to the 1950s.

The first co-operative rental housing developments were commenced in the late 1980s. Since then some 27 housing projects of this type have been completed with the assistance of State subsidised loan funds made available by the local authorities. This means that the rents can be related to the household income circumstances of the members, who are applicants eligible for social housing. The rents are used to meet the ongoing housing management, caretaking, repair and maintenance costs.

Suitably planned co-operative housing developments with a well laid out mix of both rental and ownership houses or apartments and communal welfare facilities have also been completed in recent years.

The formation of the National Association of Building Co-operatives (NABCo) in 1973 provided the means to represent and co-ordinate the common interests of affiliated housing co-operatives. This has facilitated the exchange of information and experience and co-operation between co-operatives for common services including training programmes for promotion of management standards, planning and financing of new projects, insurances etc.

Since the 1990s the organisational development of the sector has been based mainly on the formation of district/area co-operative housing societies, affiliated to the National Association of Building Co-operatives. These societies comprise the member/user/residents in networks of local co-operative housing developments (estates or apartment buildings) within particular district or county and regional areas.

This has proved to be an effective means to avoid organisational duplication and overhead costs, pool information, experience and resources, engage staff and promote consistent management standards. There are currently seven district/area co-operative housing societies involved in the planning, development and management of over 30 local co-operative housing developments (January 2009).

The Co-operative Housing Movement in Ireland has

• provided the means for members participating in local co-operatives to gain access to home-ownership, by working together to plan and finance the building of group schemes of affordable dwellings, particularly where building sites have been made available for this purpose by the local authorities.
• innovated the supply of good quality and well managed rental housing in not-for-profit co-operative communal ownership, as part of a balanced response to local community housing needs,
• pioneered new forms of co-operative equity-sharing housing, for purchase by members with modest but limited incomes, using affordable mortgage loans and not-for-profit social equity held by their co-operative housing societies for community benefit,
• introduced effective housing management systems for the upkeep and maintenance of housing estates and apartment buildings, with the involvement of member/residents on the co-operative management committees or boards of directors.