The housing crisis is affecting more and more people, from a broader range of socio-economic groups. Continuing with business-as-usual risks leaving too many without affordable housing options. Collaborative housing offers an alternative: One that emphasises shared resources, affordability and inclusion, creating resilience, adaptability and security where conventional markets fall short.
The Problem: Market failure
As of 2021, house prices globally are rising at their fastest rate for 40 years, far outstripping increases in income in most countries. In Europe, at least 100 million people on low and middle incomes spend more than 40 per cent of their disposable income on housing, and homelessness is growing.
The private housing market, dominated by profit-led housing developers and shaped by the financialisation of land and housing, is excluding more and more people from home ownership and affordable rental options.
The latest figures from UN-Habitat show the majority of housing finance is directed towards market-led solutions that fail to meet housing need. At the same time, the social housing sector, part of a welfare model itself under stress, lacks capacity to fill the gap.
The Solution: A housing model for thriving communities
Collaborative housing is proven to deliver long-term housing affordability, whilst creating environmentally sustainable and socially cohesive neighbourhoods. Collaborative housing initiatives are set up, developed, and controlled by members of their governing body, who are usually residents. Members actively participate in democratic decision making, having a fair say in how the housing is managed.
Whilst market-driven housing helps to make profit for developers and landlords, collaborative housing exists to meet the housing needs and aspirations of its members, with finance being recycled and housing assets held for the long-term benefit of the community.
Over the last decades two main forms of collaborative housing have emerged in European cities:
- Right-to-use Housing Cooperatives: A cooperative (coop) either owns the land or leases it, usually from a local or regional authority. Residents buy shares in the coop to become members. Residents pay a monthly cost-based rent to the cooperative which operates on a non-profit basis, meaning any surplus is reinvested into the property or community. Examples include the student housing cooperative La Ciguë, in Geneva, Mehr als Wohnen, in Zurich, and Sostre Civic, in Barcelona
- Community Land Trusts (CLT): Individual residents own their houses, but the land is owned collectively, controlled by the local community of members and residents. They decide how it is developed according to their own interests, and because the cost of housing excludes the cost of land, homes are significantly more affordable. CLT Brussels, in Belgium, and London CLT and Hastings Commons, in the UK, are some of the many successful applications of the model.
The Impact: Communities at the heart of housing
Plentiful examples from different cities have demonstrated that collaborative housing delivers high levels of wellbeing and sustainability for residents, for our cities, and for our planet alike. These experiences highlight how collaborative housing can:
- Ensure long-term affordability: By removing housing from speculative markets and reinvesting revenues into community benefits.
- Foster social cohesion and inclusion: Encouraging mixed-income and intergenerational living, often prioritising vulnerable groups such as refugees, elderly residents, and low-income families.
- Promote environmental sustainability: Through high energy efficiency standards and shared resources that reduce consumption and waste.
- Strengthen local economies: By keeping ownership structures community-based, reducing financial leakage to speculative investors.
