1. Briefing
Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’
housing bodies
Dr Martin Field
Research Associate
Institute for Urban Affairs
University of Northampton
July 2011

2. Preface
Martin Field (Ph.D) is a Research Associate with the Institute for Urban
Affairs at the University of Northampton. He has held senior positions in
the local authority sector covering housing strategy, management and
development roles; development posts with regional RSLs and with the
third sector; plus regional positions with East Midlands Development
Agency and on secondment to the Homes & Community Agency and the
Housing Corporation. He has a long-term commitment to housing and
neighbourhood development being led from the grassroots up - the
subject of his senior degree – with a range of practical experience from
work with UK self-build, co-op and Cohousing groups and from living in
an inner-city co-operative association.
This Briefing paper looks at housing co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies in
England.
In particular it focuses on the scope of different co-op and mutual bodies to plan, develop,
acquire and manage local housing properties, alongside wider neighbourhood engagements.
It is intended to provide guidance for local communities and community bodies considering
how a ‘co-operative identity’ could assist them to carry forward their aspirations for local
housing and neighbourhood services.
It will also be useful for professionals across housing and community-related disciplines who
would be engaged with the formation and operation of co-operative housing bodies.
Key points:
A range of ‘mutual’ bodies now exist in the UK, with a variety of legal identities, providing a
host of housing and neighbourhood functions. Some of these bodies are set up to own and
control their own stock, some are established to manage the stock from other stock-owning
organisations. There is clear government support for raising the profile of the mutual sector
and to increase its role in commissioning new house-building and take control of local
services.
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Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies

3. Contents
1. Current Interest in co-ops and mutual bodies................................................... 1
2. An overview of housing co-ups and other ‘mutual’ bodies ............................... 1
3. Co-operative and collaborative ownership of dwellings.................................... 2
4. Co-operative and collaborative management of dwellings............................... 3
5. Mutually-based ‘social enterprises’ .................................................................. 4
6. Conclusions...................................................................................................... 5
Appendix One ......................................................................................................... 6
Appendix Two......................................................................................................... 7
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Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies

4. 1. Current Interest in co-ops and mutual bodies
Supporters of ‘mutually-based’ housing provision have felt it has occupied something of
a Cinderella role within the housing sector for some considerable time. It is therefore
encouraging that both the previous and the current government administrations have
looked at how the mutual sector might increase housing construction and deliver cost-
effective services. A new role for ‘mutual’ housing provision is clearly underpinning
support around the country for ‘Community Land Trusts’ as a focus for new affordable
housing, and the range of new ‘community rights’’ in the Coalition government’s
‘localism’ agenda and a Government-Industry Working Group to promote ‘self build’ /
‘community’ schemes all point towards an invigorated consideration for how all kinds
mutual housing services might be promoted within mainstream housing solutions.
This Briefing summarises the different kinds of ‘mutual’ housing and neighbourhood
provisions that can now be found within the English housing sector, namely:
• details of the different kinds of co-operative and mutual bodies that are providing
housing and neighbourhood services; and
• descriptions of the format of bodies that are used for ownership and/or
management of housing stock, and for other kinds of mutually-based social
enterprise.
2. An overview of housing co-ups and other ‘mutual’ bodies
The classical portrayal of mutually-based housing bodies are ‘co-operatives’, defined1
as “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common
economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and
democratically controlled enterprise.” (See the internationally agreed Co-operative
Principles summarised in Appendix One.) It is recognised, however, that there now
exist a range of ‘mutual’ housing bodies in the UK. In 2009 the “Commission on Co-
operative and Mutual Housing” 2 quantified for the Labour government the nature of the
modern ‘mutual’ sector – housing bodies, building societies, friendly societies and
mutual insurers – and the extent to which this was felt ‘to contribute to the national
economy’. It identified almost 1,000 co-operative and mutual organisations owning or
managing 100,000 homes, summarising these as:
• Housing Co-operatives, which own and democratically manage affordable homes
(the largest part of the ‘mutual’ sector).
• Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs), managing homes owned by other
landlords.
• Community Gateways, tenant and membership owned housing organisations
bringing democratic accountability into existing larger-scale housing provision.
• Cohousing schemes, building ‘intentional neighbourhoods’ based upon a
combination of private and shared spaces and other facilities.
• Community Land Trusts (CLTs), local property trusts aiming to provide the long-
term availability of affordable housing.
• Other mutual ownership schemes, allowing opportunities for individual asset-
holding within ‘a collective safety net’.
All these bodies can demonstrate similar democratic and legally owned accountability to
service users, although practical requirements have seen a variety of legal identities
1
Resolution of the Centennial Congress of the International Co-operative Alliance, 23 September
1995
2
“Bringing Democracy Home”, report of Commission on Co-operative and Mutual Housing, 2009.
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 1

5. developed to govern various housing functions and community values. The choice of
which identity to take may depend upon how familiar key agents (like finance bodies)
are with that kind of body.
[Detailed advice on this is available from the Confederation of Co-operative Housing,
and from Radical Routes – see Appendix Two.]
3. Co-operative and collaborative ownership of dwellings
The kinds of formal identities that have been used for a ‘mutual ownership’ of housing
stock are:
• Fully Mutual Housing Co-operatives
These are either (a) groups of separate households with a well-defined collective local
identity where each has a self-contained dwelling; (b) a communal group sharing a
single property, without self-contained accommodation for everyone, but with a mixture
of other shared facilities.
‘Fully mutual’ 3 (par value) housing co-operative simply means that it is owned and
managed by a legal entity of which its members (almost exclusively tenants) are the
sole directors. Such ’co-ops’ are usually registered under the Industrial and Provident
Societies Act 1965, which carefully define their egalitarian qualities and frameworks
through their use of ‘model rules’.
• Community Interest Company (CICs)
CICs are limited companies but with additional features that are appropriate for the use
of people who want to conduct a business or other activity for common or community
benefit, and not purely for private advantage. There is a usually a "community interest
test" and "asset lock" which will ensure its operations are for community purposes and
the assets and profits are dedicated to these purposes.
• Company limited by guarantee
This legal identity is used primarily for non-profit making organisations, and does not
have an initial share ‘capital’ but instead has members who act as guarantors and give
an undertaking to contribute a nominal amount (typically very small) in the event of the
winding up of the company. It is sometimes believed that it cannot distribute benefit to
its members but it can so long as this is included within the provisions of the company’s
Articles of Association.
3
Also termed ‘par value’ co-operatives, where this is the nominal share price value of the formal
legal stock document when the organisation was founded – it is commonly £1.
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 2

6. • Community Land Trust (CLT)
The legal definition of a CLT is set out in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, as a
property trust “established for the express purpose of furthering the social, economic
and environmental interests of a local community by acquiring and managing land and
other assets [......] designed to ensure that any profits from its activities will be used to
benefit the local community”. Housing-based CLTs restrict use of land and housing
through not-for-profit ownership of land with leases to the land users, often used to
protect low-income housing from subsequent speculation.
• Other ‘mutual home ownership’ bodies
Cohousing and other co-ownership bodies (where two or more co-owners share
property ownership) have to date used company formats noted above for where
members collectively own property freehold, whilst issuing rental or ownership
residential ‘leases’ to individual households. A form of ‘Mutual Home Ownership’ has
been developed4 to increase the supply of affordable intermediate market housing,
designed to remain permanently affordable and not move onto the open market.
4. Co-operative and collaborative management of dwellings
The kinds of identities that have been used as for ‘mutual management’ of housing
stock are:
• Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs)
A TMO is a means by which council or housing association tenants and leaseholders
can collectively take on the democratic responsibility for managing the homes they live
in. Resident members of the TMO create an independent legal body and usually elect a
tenant-led management committee to run the organisation. The TMO can then enter
into a legal management agreement (contract) with the landlord. The majority of TMOs
manage local authority stock, however there are a few TMOs managing housing
association stock.
• Community Gateways
The ‘Community Gateway’ model is a form of housing organisation set up to provide a
range of tenant and community empowerment opportunities, developed to enable small
scale community and co-operative activity within large scale housing organisations.5.
4
See ‘CDS Co-operative’ in Appendix Two.
5
The theoretical background to setting up a Community Gateway Association was set out in 2002 in
the Empowering Communities report, published by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, CIH,
and Co-operatives UK
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 3

7. • Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs)
ALMO Boards are made up of tenants, councillors and independent members (often
local authority councillors) who reflect the local community. Central to the ALMO ethos
and crucial to their success is the direct involvement of tenants in stock and service
management - one third, or more, of an ALMO Board will be tenants of the stock.
• Short-life co-operatives / ‘Self-help’ housing
‘Short-life’ co-operatives take over properties for a fixed period of time, usually where
these have become previously unlettable. The co-op does not own the properties, but
has a lease with the landlord. ‘Self help’ housing groups 6 are similar bodies in that they
negotiate with the owners of empty properties for their use and then go on to organise
whatever repairs are necessary to make them habitable, using groups of local people to
bring the empty properties back into use. (This differs from ‘self-build’ housing
organisations, where residents are involved in the building of new properties - labour
that they put into building the properties may provide them with a 'sweat equity' and
they pay rent to cover other building costs.)
5. Mutually-based ‘social enterprises’
In addition to the housing functions noted in the two sections above, co-operatives and
other mutual bodies are used as the basis for community-based ‘social enterprise’ – i.e.
“a business or service with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally
reinvested for that purpose in the community” – usually through forms of Community
Development Trusts or through ‘worker co-operatives’.
Bodies like ‘Radical Routes’ and ‘Locality’ (the new charity formed through the merger
of community organisations Bassac and the Development Trusts Association), have
social enterprise members covering range of activities and local services, and offer
advice on many aspects of establishing social enterprises and accessing what forms of
‘mutual aid’ (like loans) might be available.
Particularly business activities closely allied with residential services are enterprises
providing:
• Property maintenance services: providing local ‘handyman’ services, or projects
working with volunteers and homeless people to renovate disused and derelict
properties.
• Landscape and garden services: providing estate and area-based maintenance of
open spaces and other landscaped provisions.
• Care provision: providing local support and assistance to reduce social exclusion
and sustain community integration of vulnerable residents.
• Community pubs: protecting the future of local public house provision through
moving it into community ownership – already with members registered with the
CLT Network.
6
“Self-help housing : Supporting locally driven housing solutions”, Building and Social Housing
Foundation, 2011
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 4

8. • Credit Unions: mutual Industrial and Provident Societies regulated by the Financial
Services Authority to take deposits provided by the savings of their members, using
this to provide participating members with loan products at affordable rates.
[See Appendix Two for contact bodies and examples]
6. Conclusions
A cross-sector body of representatives from across the ‘mutual’ sector has been
consolidating itself from under the banner of the Mutual Housing Commission’s 2009
report to promote the common benefits of different forms of ‘mutual’ housing, and now
includes reps on behalf of different constituent ‘elements’ of the mutual sector : housing
co-ops, land trusts, tenant management co-ops, cohousing groups, local authority
housing management organisations, self-help groups and others. An encouragement to
engage with this cross-sector approach has gone out to all local members of the
representative interests.
Key to the formation of this group has been the Confederation of Co-operative Housing,
which in partnership with the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of
Housing has published a recent report that examines financing options for new co-
operative and mutual housing, identifying routes and models for future schemes
including potential volume development through partnerships with local authorities and
developer housing associations 7.
The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has also funded the Confederation to develop an
‘accreditation’ programme to strengthen standards in housing co-ops and ensure
excellence in service provision, particularly in relation to meeting the TSA's new
regulatory standards, (notwithstanding that mutual services are routinely at the top of
service audit performance assessments, and of service users satisfaction surveys).
Lord Best noted at the time of the Commission’s 2009 report “... ‘mutual’ housing values
are receiving renewed recognition for their potential to increase housing and community
provision in ways that will engender less overall risk for the communities concerned.” At
a time when new partnerships between the development sector and local credit unions
is establishing innovative ways to provide first-time buyers with a helping hand onto the
house ownership ladder8, the scope for ‘mutual’ housing provision to challenge the
principles of the ‘mainstream’ housing sector looks set to continue.
7
“Financing Co-operative and Mutual Housing”,2011: CCH, CIH and NHF
8
A new venture in May 2011 between Cruden Homes , one of Scotland’s largest housing
development and construction groups, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Credit Union and NHS Credit
Union.
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 5

9. Appendix One
The Co-operative Principles are international guidelines agreed by which co-operative
organisations put their values into practice. The seven ‘principles’ include:
1. Voluntary and open membership [....open to all persons able to use their services and
willing to accept the responsibilities of membership...]
2. Democratic member control [... Co-op members have equal voting rights (one member,
one vote)].
3. Member economic participation [....Members contribute equitably to, and
democratically control, the capital of their Co-op....]
4. Autonomy and independence [....Co-ops are autonomous, self-help organisations
controlled by their members...].
5. Education, training and information [...Co-operatives provide education and training
for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees ...and...the general
public]
6. Co-operation amongst Co-ops [...strengthen the co-operative movement by working
together through local, national, regional, and international structures].
7. Concern for community [...Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their
communities...]
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 6

10. Appendix Two
(a) Summary of key organisations supporting ‘mutual’ housing provision :
Birmingham Co-operative Housing Services [See http://www.bchs.org.uk]
Building and Social Housing Foundation [See http://www.bshf.org]
CDS Co-operatives [See http://www.cds.coop]
Community Gateway Association [See http://www.communitygateway.co.uk]
Confederation of Co-operative Housing [See http://www.cch.coop]
London Federation of Housing Co-ops [191 High Street, Brentford, TW8 8LB, Tel 0208 560
9729]
National Community Land Trust Networks [See http://www.cltnetwork.org]
National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations [See http://www.nftmo.com]
National Federation of Arms Length Management Organisations [See
http://www.almos.org.uk]
National Housing Federation [See http://www.housing.org.uk]
Radical Routes [See http://www.radicalroutes.org.uk]:
Self Help Housing [See http://self-help-housing.org - in particular Latch and Canopy, in
Leeds, and Phoenix Housing Co-op, in London]
UK Cohousing Network [See http://www.cohousing.org.uk]
Radical Routes have published an informative booklet called "How to set up a housing co-
operative", available from Radical Routes, c/o Cornerstone Housing Co-op, 16 Sholebroke
Avenue, Chapeltown, Leeds LS7 3HB.
(b) Summary of organisations supporting ‘social enterprises’ quoted:
For ‘care co-ops’ [See www.careco-ops.org.uk]
Community Pubs Foundation [See http://www.communitypubs.org]
Co-operatives UK [See http://www.uk.coop]
For ‘credit unions’ [See http://www.abcul.org/home]
Locality (merger of the Development Trusts Association & BASSAC) [See
http://www.dta.org.uk ]
Radical Routes [as above]
Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies 7

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Briefing: Housing Co-operatives and other ‘mutual’ housing bodies