Housing Cooperatives - Proutist Economic Development This presentation is a brief introduction to the wide range of housing cooperative possibilities. Thanks are due to Margi O'Connell-Hood of Maleny, Australia who provided the information. Margi has been promoting housing cooperatives in Australia for many years. The main message in this presentation is that there are many different models of housing cooperatives. Here are some statistics about housing cooperatives in Europe: * 10,614,000 housing cooperatives in Europe! * Norway - 15% of the national housing stock. * Czech Republic - 10,000 housing cooperatives. * UK - 2% of national housing stock Following the Second World War, there was a tremendous need for rapid building of houses. Cooperative housing was considered the best way to achieve rapid results. Cooperative housing projects in Turkey can be on a very large scale. They can be suburban developments. The first housing cooperative known in the Christian tradition was in Turkey. It was built around 100-200 AD when Christians were being persecuted. The cooperative spirit was enshrined in their slogan - "do unto others as you would have done unto yourself". The houses were carved out of solid rock. Inside walls contain mural carvings. Although the eyes of the carved figures have, apparently, been gouged out because some Muslims do not accept representations of living beings. This housing cooperative is now a famous tourist site in Turkey. Houses in the area continue to be carved out of solid rock, which is rather soft. The organisational structure for cooperative housing in Turkey has three tiers: * National peak body: A powerful body that liaises with government. It organises the financial flows. The Turkish government supports cooperative housing and has a budget allocation which is passed to the peak body. The peak body decides flows of funding to the different regions. * Regional coop alliances: Make the plans for individual projects. Oversee the big development projects. Do the building to lock-up stage. Are able to obtain big economies of scale. * Individual housing coops: Some projects remain as housing cooperatives, others are limited life cooperatives – they disband once the houses are built. In this case, a cooperative exists only to enjoy economies of scale for finance and building. There are several kinds of housing cooperative options in Turkey. In particular there are limited life cooperatives that exist only for the purposes of obtaining finance. Once the houses have been built they are bought by coop members and the cooperative ceases to exist. Cooperative housing estates are the cheapest option available to low income families. An intermediate option is the three storey duplex house. The most expensive option is the stand alone two storey house. The owners of these houses have the option of buying them outright through the limited-life cooperative mechanism. Likewise, there are many different housing cooperative models around the world. Some advantages of housing cooperatives: * Affordable home ownership * Low-cost rental housing * Financing mechanisms unavailable to other forms of organisations * Help to build integrated communities * Invest in social capital --- The large scale presentation can be found at: Regards Dharma