This year’s conference for the UK Confederation of Co-operative Housing came at a time of unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the movement.
On the one hand, housing co-ops could benefit from the government’s pledge to double the UK co-op and mutuals sector.
On the other, access to capital remains a problem and regulatory pressures are growing, particularly with the arrival of Awaab’s Law, a new set of safety rules drawn up in response to the death in 2020 of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who was living in a mould-infested flat run by the mutual Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.
Helen Tucker, a partner at Anthony Collins Solicitors, said Awaab’s Law imposes tight deadlines on social landlords when it comes to dealing with damp, mould and other hazards that “present a significant risk of harm”.
Housing co-ops, she warned, need to think about their budget for providing emergency accommodation for affected tenants, for carrying out repairs, and for legal payouts. It is also vital that co-ops are informed on the condition of their housing stock and have the right IT systems, personnel and trade people in place to ensure problems are dealt with.
Related: What next for social housing after the Rochdale Boroughwide tragedy?
If Awaab’s Law presents necessary challenges, there are also hopeful signals from government. In her keynote speech, Labour/Co-op MP Rachel Blake reaffirmed the government’s support for the sector.
A change of direction is needed, she warned: in 2020, only 10% of new homes were developed by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) – down from 39% in 1988. “There are real barriers to entry for small and community builders … That’s to do with funding, and that’s to do with the complexity of the planning system, and it’s to do with access to land.
“Those are all things that I know this room has a huge amount of experience in overcoming.”
With the sector capable of producing 65,000 homes each year, ministers are keen to tackle these barriers, she added. “We’re at a really important moment now in terms of changing the operating environment, the building environment, so that community-led and co-op housing solutions are right at the forefront.”
Guarantees for SME builders are in the pipeline, said Blake, and a £20m fund for is available for co-op housing is available. Homes England wants to give SMEs an important role in new housing, “and there is a real recognition about the need to bring forward small, community based sites”.
The housing co-op sector can also use its expertise to help the government with transition from leasehold to common hold, she added.
“And there’s other things that we can do as a movement and as a community ourselves. We should be thinking about how we bring land together, how we work with local communities and local authorities to bring forward land and identify sites, to get planning permission and then to build.”
In terms of political progress, Blase Lambert, chief executive of the CCH, said he was “staggered with the progress in the last few months – to have the housing minister standing up in Parliament, in recent days, finally saying government intends to legislate for a co-operative tenure”.
Housing co-ops have long been campaigning for a formal basis in law, added Lambert, who paid tribute to the Co-op Party for its help in finally driving progress in this area.
CCH’s other big ask is “a bespoke financial intermediary to enable co-operatives to access affordable finance to grow and develop, said Lambert. “Again, in recent weeks, the Ministry for Housing Communities and Local Government has commissioned the research and implementation work that we’ve long asked for.”
Related: Government announces £20m package for community-led housing
Meanwhile, CCH is developing an online platform where housing co-ops can share knowledge, launching a Sustainable Development Goals toolkit and updating its code of governance, training programme and accreditation scheme.
There were global perspectives, too, with Santosh Kumar, director of legislation and the International Cooperative Alliance, appearing by video link to present the just-released international legal research initiative on co-operative law and housing, funded by the European Union and produced in partnership with Cooperative Housing International (CHI).
The project, said Kumar, set out to “develop a dependable legal knowledge base on co-operative law and housing, to identify good practices, find cross-jurisdictional analysis, and also to equip members with knowledge about law on housing to help their advocacy efforts.”
Research was based on a questionnaires returned by housing co-ops across all ICA regions. “In the countries we’ve studied,” said Kumar, “the purpose or the primary object of the housing co-operative is clear – as that which satisfies the housing needs of members and, in some cases, ancillary communities.”
He echoed Lambert’s view that “co-operative housing should be identified, recognised and acknowledged in the law.”
CHI president Guido Schwarzendahl, who is also chair of Germany’s Federal Association of Housing Cooperatives, set out the global role of the co-op housing movement.
“We want to represent, to serve and to unite all housing co-operatives,” he said, “and foster housing co-operatives as a unique solution for the fight against the lack of shelter and the lack of supply in housing markets.” To that end, he said, CHI is moving to a “leaner and more sustainable form of organisation” by linking with Housing Europe “to create important synergies”.
From closer to home, the conference heard a success story from Larke Adger, CEO of West Granton Housing Co-operative in Edinburgh, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary. A community-based co-op, it has 372 properties, 372 tenant members, and 17 streets – replacing an unpopular brutalist block, demolished by the co-op after a stock transfer from the council.
“Our tenant members are incredibly proud of what they’ve built,” said Adger, “and they are very hard taskmaster in making sure we keep their estate clean.”
This year, the co-op set up a fuel assistance fund, where we give every new tenant a £50 credit on their gas and electric meter to help with new home startup costs.
“We spent over the year £7,000 helping tenants with fuel poverty – basically paying off gas and electric debts; £8,000 laying thicker carpets in over 40 homes to make them warmer, £2,000 on buying small electrical energy-saving appliances, and £2,000 on providing more clothing for the kids in 37 families.”
But the model is struggling in Scotland, warned Adger, with only seven housing co-ops left – down from more than 20 two decades ago – and the co-op element recently dropped from the rebranded Scottish Housing Association.
In response, Scotland’s surviving housing co-ops began hosting informal get-togethers to share knowledge and support – and Adger was then invited to join the board of CCH. West Granton has now joined the confederation, she added, with the other six looking to follow suit over the coming months.
Pointing to the support of CCH and Co-operatives UK, Adger said the sharing of support and information is vital to nurturing the movement, especially in terms of lobbying the Scottish government for improvements to an unsupportive regulatory environment.
During a reception after the event, CCH presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to David Rodgers, former president of CHI and former CEO at CDS Co-operatives.
