Starting a Cooperative Household

An Accessible Model To Forming a Community

Some types of communities (Cohousing or Eco-Villages for example) are large-scale projects costing millions of dollars. We encourage those with the energy and desire to pursue this scale of project. Don't get us wrong, we love Cohousing and Eco-Villages, and wish more of them are formed. But it does take a lot of work to raise capital, purchase land, and manage a construction project of new homes and structures. One of the benefits of forming Cooperative Homes over other types is the lower barrier to entry. Because people are utilizing structures that already exist it is much easier to form groups and communities without taking on a large project.
 
Cooperative housing is a type of arrangement where a group of people live together under one roof (a single-family home). They practice some form of cooperative living as an alternative to the competitive and independent society we grew up in. It is based on values of sharing, communicating, and creating agreements to achieve strength and abundance through working together.

There are many names that this sort of arrangement goes by. We refer to these as Cooperative Homes (or Shared Homes interchangeably)

Some households build on top of this general model and incorporate strong communal living characteristics. This can include heavily centering around shared values, beliefs, and for some even incorporating income sharing between members.

 

Sidenote - cooperatives (or housing co-ops) are also a type of legal ownership structure. When we refer to cooperative homes we refer to the spirit of cooperative culture, not the ownership structure. But some households can have both cooperative culture and a co-op legal structure.

Cooperative Home Examples

There are plenty of cooperative households out there and many are started independently by people looking to create a community where they live. View these examples listed below (none of these were started with our help but are simply listed to showcase what's possible).

Dream Big With Cooperative Housing Clusters

For those interested in going beyond a single cooperative house, we want to present the option of having groups of homes cluster together in close proximity. Each household acts autonomously but together they create a dynamic community experience. 

Cooperative Housing Clusters
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Have Questions?

Don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions about starting a community. We'll be more than happy to provide an answer or direct you to the right place. Please keep in mind though that our team is made up of volunteers; hence, kindly bear with us if there's a delay in response times.

Team NICA

Lorna
Thomas
Jonathan
Peaceray
Rob
Florian