Leeds housing focus: The co-operative solution to affordable housing woes

HOME SWEET HOME: Cath Muller and Woody who both live at the Cornerstone Housing Co-op in Chapeltown. PIC: Tony Johnson

This week the YEP is shining the spotlight on community-led housing in Leeds, its bid to offer an alternative to volume housebuilders and the pioneering work taking place across the city to put people - not profit - at the heart of housing.

Joanna Wardill looks at the use of housing co-operatives as a means of creating affordable housing in Leeds.

Community-led housing doesn’t just have to involve new build projects.

One movement which is evolving in Leeds is that of creating housing co-operatives, or co-ops.

Students want to set up First Student CO-OP at Leeds University..Pictured from the left are Gauthier Guerin, Ai Van Kok and Annmarie Clay.

This is where a group of people band together to buy a property - and then are collectively responsible for how it is run, who lives there and setting the rent.

It is similar to cohousing - in fact many cohousing projects are run through a co-op model - but involves people living in a single property.

Co-ops help people who wouldn’t be able to afford their own homes as well as creating a house within the community which will always remain affordable.

To set up a co-op, a group of like-minded people form what is essentially a business and, after raising a deposit, secure a mortgage from a sympathetic building society.

Rent is then paid to the housing co-op society – ie themselves – which pays off the mortgage and any loans.

If things go wrong, all that is lost is the deposit.

But if it all goes right, it has created a long-term, affordable home where only those who live there have a say in how it is managed.

Cath Muller has lived at Cornerstone Housing Co-op in Chapeltown for 22 years.

Cornerstone now owns two Victorian houses in the north Leeds suburb; buying its  first in 1993. She said: “From a tenant’s point of view, it is much like renting from a private landlord but your rent doesn’t go into a landlord’s pocket – instead it goes to preserving affordable and secure housing for the future, which can be adapted to suit your needs and desires.

This means that – depending on the overall rental income – you’re allowed to drill holes in your own bedroom wall and replace the heating system... as long as the rest of the co-op agrees.

“We chose the big house in Chapeltown because it had big gardens and lots of cellar space and we bought a second house within 18 months.