Coop Conversations Cooperative Housing International

In this episode, we interview Paul Bradley, former CEO of ROC USA, and Kristi Peterman, a resident and board member of Liberty Landing Cooperative.
ROC USA is a non-profit social venture that aims to facilitate resident ownership of manufactured home parks on a larger scale.
Liberty Landing is a resident-owned manufactured home park located in Liberty, Missouri - a suburb of Kansas City.
During the episode, Paul and Kristi discuss the process of residents uniting to purchase the land on which their homes are situated, thereby protecting affordability for future generations.

Meet Thom Armstrong, the CEO of the Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia in Canada. He has over 30 years of experience in the cooperative housing movement and serves as the CEO for COHO Management Services Society and the Community Land Trust group of societies. Furthermore, he serves as the chair of the board of Encasa Financial Inc., which oversees an investment fund of more than $500 million in assets for the social housing sector in Canada.
Blase Lambert is with us as well, serving as Treasurer on the Board of Cooperative Housing International. He holds the position of CEO at the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, which is the UK's representative organization for cooperative housing. Furthermore, he sits on the Board of the Co-operative Housing Finance Society and is a founding member of Community Led Homes. Lastly, he serves as Treasurer of Leicester Vaughan College.
Blase and Thom delve into the advantages and disadvantages of housing cooperatives on leased land in this episode. They explore the challenges faced by coops striving to preserve their community against the demand of cities to accommodate more residents on the same land. Additionally, they discuss the community land trust model, which serves as a catalyst for housing development and enables collaboration with local governments to lease land for extended periods and construct much needed affordable homes.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tsukasa Ono and Marina Takahasi who live in a housing cooperative in Japan on an island called Yakushima. The coop is called Sumu Yakushima and was conceived and designed by Tsukasa, an architect. Eight members collectively own the coop via a joint-stock company, each having an equal share. The design combines modern and traditional Japanese architecture and civil engineering practices where the built environment is in harmony with the natural environment.

En este podcast presentamos a MULTIPRO, una cooperativa de servicios profesionales con sede en Matagalpa, fundada en 2013 por un grupo de jóvenes profesionales como ingenieros, administradores, desarrolladores sociales), que trabajan en coordinación con CECOVI, la organización paraguas de las cooperativas de vivienda del departamento de Matagalpa.

(This episode is in French)
À Bruxelles, il y a plus de 6 millions de mètres-carrés vides, et entre-temps des milliers de personnes sont à la recherche d’espaces décents et abordables pour se loger ou mettre en place des initiatives. Maxime Zaït est avocat, recherchiste et co-fondateur de Communa, STUN Europe et Fairground Brussels, des organisations sans but lucratif qui s'intéressent à la création de communautés et à la lutte contre la vacance immobilière afin de créer des lieux temporaires, pour transformer la ville à long terme. Maxime s'est promené pendant plusieurs mois dans huit pays en Europe afin d'étudier le droit à la ville, le droit au logement, les modèles anti-spéculatifs, la mise en commun et l'usage social temporaire. Dans cette conversation Maxime partage avec nous les différentes approches qu'il a vues et les problèmes similaires qui existent à Bruxelles et dans les endroits qu'il a visités.
 
Communa Website: https://communa.be/

Sostre Civic is a cooperative in Catalonia, Spain that promotes and develops housing cooperatives under the right of use model. This housing model consists of collective ownership of a building or a number of buildings by the housing co-op. Members of the co-op have the right to occupy a particular apartment by mutual agreement but do not hold exclusive ownership. Sostre Civic also makes use of a pre-emption right mechanism that exists in Catalonia whereby civil society has the first option to buy abandoned properties.