Skip to main content

Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Housing Cooperatives

Multi-family/unit housing that is owned and democratically controlled by its residents

Image
February 6, 2023

Working-Class Utopias

Summary

As World War II ended and Americans turned their attention to problems at home, union leaders and other prominent New Yorkers came to believe that cooperative housing would solve the city’s century-old problem of providing decent housing at a reasonable cost for working-class families. In Working-Class Utopias: A History of Cooperative Housing in New York City, Robert Fogelson, one of the nation’s foremost urban historians, tells the story of this ambitious movement from the construction of the Amalgamated Houses after World War I to the building of Co-op City, the world’s largest housing cooperative, four decades later.

Image
November 3, 2022

The Cost of Not Going Co-op

Summary

Cooperative ownership offers a way for residents to not only have a say in their community’s decision-making, but also to prevent rent hikes and keep their housing costs affordable.

Image
October 17, 2022

The Making of Co-op City, the Nation’s Biggest Housing Co-op

Summary

Co-op City is the largest housing cooperative in the country.

Image
May 5, 2022

Housing co-ops could solve Canada’s housing affordability crisis

Authors
Summary

To make housing truly affordable, governments need to support non-profit housing cooperatives.

Image
January 10, 2022

Lessons from Venezuela's Social Economy

Summary

Michael Lebowitz shares his perspective on the social economic models in Venezuela and Yugoslavia. Lebowitz highlights the importance of self-actualization through protagonism and how the most successful of these models focused on solidarity over self-interest.

Image
August 9, 2021

Changing Stigma in Resident Owned Communities

Summary

Kim Capen, the ROC Association Director for the New England Region, talks about his work on the ROC Association, including specific initiatives regarding stigma and branding.

Image
March 18, 2021

Tips on Starting a Housing Co-op

Authors
Summary

How to start a housing co-op.

Image
October 29, 2020

The People's Pitch 2020

Authors
Summary

Presentations from Start.coop's 2020 Co-op Accelerator Program graduates.

Image
August 10, 2020

More than a Housing Project

Summary

Aroundtheworld.coop visits the Castalia housing cooperative in Barrio Sur, Montevideo, Uruguay

Image
November 25, 2019

Do housing co-ops decommodify housing?

Authors
Summary

The differences between market-rate housing cooperatives, limited-equity housing cooperatives, and zero-equity co-ops.