Housing Cooperatives

On March 2^nd, 2026, cooperative educator and “recovering farmer” Emi Do and I visited Heather Pritchard at her home on Fraser Common Cooperative Farm, near Aldergrove, British Columbia. After a brief tour of the farm, twenty acres on the foothills above the Fraser River Valley, and a conversation with fellow farm co-op member David Catzell, we sat down for lunch at Heather’s kitchen table and spoke for over an hour. The following is a lightly edited version of her reflections.

Uruguayan Federation of Mutual Aid Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM), founded in May 1970, embodies the spirit of community and support. Serving 35,000 families through 760 cooperatives in a nation of approximately 3.5 million inhabitants, they are a beacon of collaboration. With a cooperative school for children and numerous consumer, distribution, and worker cooperatives linked to their vision, they are shaping a brighter future.

Housing advocates in Eugene, Oregon, are seeking to create a legislative framework that would allow tenants to collectively acquire multifamily buildings when a building comes up for sale.

Ebony Gustave writes about touring several cooperatives in the Hudson Valley as part of the Cooperative Leaders & Scholars Fellowship.

Unfortunately not everybody's experience of cooperatives is positive. For Elle, their time in co-operatives was both transformative, but also painful, marred by classism that often goes unnamed.

This webinar, moderated by Shelterforce's Miriam Axel-Lute, caps off our most recent Under the Lens series “Innovations in Community Ownership.” Learn about the power of Los Angeles’s Measure ULA, New York City’s take on a shared services model, cooperation between conservationists and affordable housing development in New York’s Hudson Valley, and more. Speakers: —Deyanira Del Rio, executive director of the New Economic Project and convener of NYC Community Land Initiative. —Roberto Garcia Ceballos, co-director of Fideicomiso Comuniatario Tierra Libre, and director of the LA Housing Training Hub. —Chris Brown, board vice president of Trillium Community Land Trust, and a member of Hudson Valley Alliance for Housing and Conservation.

Listen to inspiring stories of housing co-ops overcoming challenges, building resilient communities, and shaping local economies. 

This webinar dives into strategies for keeping co-ops strong and sustainable: decision-making, financial management, upkeep, growth strategies, and member engagement.

Explore how housing co-ops move from concept to community! In this webinar, our panel shares insights, lessons learned, and practical guidance for starting a housing cooperative. Whether you’re considering a limited-equity co-op, a resident-owned community (ROC), or other shared housing models, this session provides valuable advice to help bring your vision to life. 

During this webinar, the Cooperative Development Foundation’s Affordable Housing Initiative explored how shared equity housing models such as limited equity co-ops, community owned real estate co-ops, ROCs (resident owned communities of manufactured homes), and other models can help rural communities meet their housing needs on their terms.