There was a buzz of excitement at the July 22 half-day conference in London, organised by the UK Cohousing Network. The theme was ‘Speeding the growth of Mixed-tenure Cohousing’, and there was a clear sense at this event that cohousing is moving rapidly from a bright idea into an attractive method of delivering the new priority of self-organised housing.

The presenters included several housing associations actively involved with cohousing projects, and some of the resident groups they are working with. Fiona Astin, Group Development Manager of Synergy Housing in Dorset spoke of their satisfaction with the first and only completed mixed-tenure cohousing scheme in the K, the Threshold Centre, and their commitment to a follow-on scheme in Bridport. Bruce Moore, Chief Executive of Hanover Housing, who are at early stages with three cohousing resident groups, acknowledged the level of project resources which these schemes require from an RSL, but said that he anticipated that they would create know-how which was highly valuable in their mainstream work also.

Matt Campion, Supported Housing Director of Viridian Housing, spoke of his organisation's commitment to undertake cohousing schemes and its willingness to offer support to cohousing resident groups in their formative phase, including help in seeking funding. All three of these housing associations emphasised the wide range of benefits which cohousing can bring: for example, helping local communities to meet their own housing needs, the creation of genuine mixed-tenure communities, and the way that cohousing residents deal with most management issues for themselves post-construction and thus offer the potential for reduced costs for the housing association. They also highlighted the need for new skills, and greater cooperation between different sections of their own organisation.

Members of cohousing resident groups working with housing associations, and Cohousing Network Board members, acknowledged that it is not always easy to identify the best methods of collaboration between residents and housing associations, who are heavily regulated in their way of working. However, these problems are being overcome, and there was a strong recognition that in the UK context, housing associations represent the best prospect for professional development partners in the cohousing sector.

There was an inspiring and timely presentation by Stephen Hill, Director of C2O Futureplanners, who has recently been involved with CLG in the emerging proposals forLocal Housing Trusts and the Community Right to Build. He confirmed the relevance of cohousing in this new policy context, and emphasised the unique benefit of self-organised housing schemes in creating liveable spaces between buildings: “Managing our co-existence in shared space”, as Professor Patsy Healey puts it.

Dinah Roake of the Homes and Communities Agency presented the new key aims of the HCA, and confirmed that cohousing is seen as a viable way to help achieve these. Nic Bliss of the Mutual Housing Sector group recognised the benefits of cohousing as a new form of resident-led housing provision, and highlighted exciting possibilities of government funding streams being opened to cohousing. The Commission on Cooperative and Mutual Housing is seeking pathfinder local authorities to help create community-led housing schemes.

Attendance at the event exceeded Cohousing Network expectations, and included not only a good range of housing associations, but also architects, researchers, cohousing resident groups, and one local authority.

Some of the actions emerging from the lively discussion at the mini-conference included:

• Continue to strengthen links between cohousing and other parts of the self-organised housing sector.
• Seek resources to create standard legal and other templates for cohousing schemes, thus reducing one-off costs for both residents and RSLs.
• Consider the creation of a matchmaking service to connect cohousing resident groups with interested housing associations.
• Explore ways to continue the sharing of expertise among RSLs and resident groups involved in mixed-tenure cohousing, and how to involve other professionals, e.g. architects.

FURTHER REFERENCE: Please see powerpoint presentation 'Cohousing Home and Abroad'
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