A cooperative, as defined by the International Cooperative Alliance, is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. The ICA has endorsed seven principles as guidelines for co-ops of all sorts.
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1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership
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2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control
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3rd Principle: Member Economic Participation
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4th Principle: Autonomy and Independance
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5th Principle: Education, Training and Information
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6th Principle: Co-operation among Co-operatives
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7th Principle: Concern for Community
In addition to generally following these guidelines, housing cooperatives specifically are usually a group of people living in a single building or a cluster of buildings sharing the costs and basic resposibilities for shopping and cooking, cleaning and maintaining the building/s, and governing the co-op, including selecting future members, setting expectations of members, and resolving problems that arise.
Some housing co-ops form around certain shared values that go beyond the basic ICA principles, for example concern about the environment or love of the arts.
Click here to read an excellent overview of the cooperative movement, with a special focus on student cooperatives.
Click here to visit the National Association of Students of Cooperation website.
Click here for NASCO's links to Cooperative Organizations and Resources on the NASCO website.
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- The Purpose
