S19 Housing Co-operative

We are a small group of people setting up a vegan, permaculture housing co-op in the East Midlands (Derby, Leicester, Notts).

A housing co-op is an alternative to renting from dodgy landlords and waiting forever on council housing lists. By working together a group of people can buy property, run it how they choose and in the process take control of a major part of their lives - housing.

The benefits are numerous - low rents, not living under constant fear of eviction, the freedom to follow personal and political beliefs and being in the position of being able to help/inspire others to repeat the process.

The way this works is by using a legal set-up that makes sure that no-one from the group can ever directly benefit monetarily (£££) from the ownership of any property bought. The co-op itself owns the property, not the individuals who are its members.

This is an alternative to the standard ideology, of aiming for personal property ownership, drilled into us from an early age. It is something anyone is capable of not just some elite group.

Which is why we aren’t only just concerned with providing a nice home for ourselves and any future members.

We want to build something that involves our local community. We’re not interested in creating just another lifestyle clique (the project is vegan because it includes everyone) but instead something that will have a positive effect on our lives, those of the users, and our area. The aim is to inspire others who share our less-affluent backgrounds, to organise and educate themselves about taking control of their lives and community. For this reason we plan to have a resource centre, workshop space and areas for growing food. The housing co-op will be kid and dog friendly.

Timescale / future

We’re aiming to move into a place sometime during 2008 but from now onwards your help and support is needed and appreciated. Fundraising, in particular, is a massive task. The housing co-op will be a first step as some of us also plan to form a workers co-op in the future, thereby taking further control our lives through co-operative employment.

Stuff we're involved in

Allotments, sumac social centre cafe, animal shelter/rescue work, wholefood order collective, veggies, SEN teaching and other bits and bobs...