Our Head of Governance, Abigail Robson, an expert in governance, shares her insights on the unique challenges and opportunities within the co-operative housing.
Good governance should generate positive outcomes for everyone, but the co-operative housing model has the potential to go even further because of its unique structure - ownership by the membership.
I’ve worked in governance in the social housing sector throughout my career including both executive and non-executive roles. I love seeing governance from different angles and working with housing co-ops provides another new angle.
One thing that strikes me however is how many people involved in housing coops say that one of the biggest challenges they face as Management Committee members is the challenge in getting new members involved.
What’s interesting is how different this is from the first generation of an organisation’s membership. Founding members talk with enthusiasm and energy about the ups and downs of forming their housing co-ops. But I often hear Management Committee members ask who the role of Management Committee member will appeal to next, so founding members can work alongside newer members, and eventually pass the baton on to the next generation.
Founding members enjoyed the peak of motivation that is intrinsic to forming something new and the cooperative structure has stood the test of time. But it's a different challenge to sustain an organisation than it is to set a new one up, and I hear from Management Committee members that new members who come in to sustain a model may naturally be a bit less hungry for the model to work.
Finding a way to preserve the model must involve being more efficient, not being held back by blind spots, taking advantage of new technology, and making room for Generations Y and Z. This might look like fewer and shorter meetings, less politics, getting help to quickly to turn around disputes. All freeing up people to devote less time to big meetings and more time to smaller groups working on something that each member enjoys.
Adjustments are needed to recognise the fact that Housing Co-operatives are an experiment that still needs to be worked at. Change that takes the slog out of running a coop is important because the cooperative model is intrinsically attractive and has so much commend it as an alternative model - relatively low rent in return for contributing to running the coop, great locations, and no landlord, so more control.
