Report Receives Widespread Support
The launch of the Commission’s report at Parliament on 24th November, followed by a reception sponsored by the Co-operative Bank Plc, was in the presence of key policy makers from the housing and co-operative worlds including John Healey MP the Housing Minister, David Lepper MP Secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing Co-operatives and Community Control, Peter Marsh Chief Executive of the Tenant Services Authority, Len Wardle Chair of the Co-operative Group, Richard France Head of Corporate Banking at the Co-operative Bank, Michael Stephenson the General Secretary of the Co-operative Party, Lord Richard Best President of the Local Government Association, David Orr Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation and Sabah Samaletdin Senior Executive Vice President of Municipal Housing Ltd, Helsinki, Finland.
David Rodgers, Director of the Co-operative Development Society (CDS) Ltd. and recently elected President of the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) Housing Sector Organisation and a Commissioner welcomed the report in his speech at the launch:
“The Commission’s report is of great interest and relevance to all housing co-operative members of the ICA across the world. The synergy of the report to the work of ICA members and affordable housing providers in other countries arises from the role housing co-operatives and mutual housing organizations play in supporting a healthy civil society, how they cope with rapid demographic change, and their potential to stabilize the effects of evolving urban policy. The wider housing world in the UK now needs to move towards expanding mutual housing to European levels which are often twenty times greater than in the UK.”
Commission Chair and Building Societies Association Director-General Adrian Coles explains more about the report:
“The Commission’s report concludes that the English housing system would be an ideal policy arena in which co-operative and mutual approaches could be expanded to bring the UK in line with most other European countries which have far more developed sectors. Unlike the UK with 0.6 percent of housing as co-operatives or mutuals, in Sweden it’s 18 percent, 15 percent in Norway, 8 percent in Austria, 6 percent in Germany and 4 percent in Ireland.
The Commission started with a firm commitment that its conclusions would be evidence based; an independent Commission that drew together the mainstream and co-operative housing sectors. The Commission’s work has followed on from the ‘Monks’ Commission into the wider co-operative movement in 2001 but has been welcomed by all political parties, government agencies and across the social housing sector”.
Independent research for the Commission has found that co-operative and mutual housing has consistently produced a range of benefits including above average resident satisfaction ratings and sound housing management performance. Benefits extend beyond the performance indicators: people who live in democratically owned or managed housing take more responsibility, and feel a greater sense of belonging, identity and ownership.
Co-operative members who have started out with broken lives widely acknowledge how mutual housing has provided opportunities to reshape their futures by acquiring skills and moving into work. And members tend to be good citizens - tackling climate change, volunteering as school governors, transforming the wider neighbourhood, and participating in activities that foster community cohesion.
The diversity of the sector has been underlined. Housing co-operatives collectively owning and democratically managing their homes form the largest segment followed by tenant management organisations or shortlife organisations that manage or lease homes owned by other landlords. More recently, community gateways and mutuals have made a start on injecting democracy into social housing by facilitating stock transfer from local councils. Cohousing schemes are providing community housing alternatives to the alienation of modern life, especially for older people. And community land trusts and mutual home ownership are couching aspirations for individual asset ownership within a community safety net.
The report calls for existing funding streams to be realigned to support the expansion of the co-operative and mutual housing sector. Support structures and a legal and regulatory framework that is sympathetic to democratic service-user control of housing are also recommended. Widespread promotion and publicity about available models, incorporating a clear route map for ordinary people to access the sector, is equally vital for future development.
The Commission has made suggestions for actions by local councils to initiate a co-operative and mutual housing sector in their areas and how housing associations can offer ongoing support. Council housing departments, arms length organisations and housing associations are also challenged to take steps towards developing more co-operative and mutual models of delivery both within their own organisations and in their spheres of influence.
But the crucial ingredient in expanding the sector is a commitment by government at all levels to introduce more democracy into housing giving ordinary people and communities the means to take control of their homes, lives and neighbourhoods and forge their own, local solutions.
The report has been welcomed by all major political parties.