Social Housing Done Differently

Co-operatives are innovators by nature, helping communities work together to meet their common needs and solve collective problems. As the national association for the co-operative movement, Co-operatives UK works with many great examples of co-operation, promoting, supporting and empowering our members. We facilitate members to work together to solve collective problems together, we also work to promote the fantastic work many of our members are doing. Therefore in this case study we are keen to highlight the excellent work of our member West Granton Housing Co-operative in Edinburgh.

Housing remains one of the key issues facing communities, with the cost of average renting rising by 8.3% to £1,220 a month[i]. The cost of rent is driving more families into poverty[ii] and 2023 saw 39% rise in number of no-fault evictions from the year previous and with less social housing[iii] the waiting list for social housing is now over 1 million strong[iv]. Among those who are living in social housing many are facing unaccountable landlords, living in poor quality homes[v], we are living through a housing crisis that is giving communities little control over their houses and by extension little control over their lives. This is where housing co-operatives like West Granton come in, tackling the housing crisis by giving residents affordable rents with greater democratic control over the homes by putting tenants first.

[i] https://www.zoopla.co.uk/discover/property-news/average-rent-uk/

[ii] https://www.caee.org.uk/rents-are-unsustainable-and-driving-an-inexorable-rise-in-homelessness/

[iii] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/08/renters-in-england-face-rising-no-fault-evictions-as-reform-bill-delayed-again

[iv]https://england.shelter.org.uk/support_us/campaigns/social_housing_deficit#:~:text=Yet%2C%20not%20enough%20social%20homes,than%20there%20were%20in%201980.

[v] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/social-housing-quality