The document discusses the recurring issue of housing, focusing on the tension between its residential and financial values, as well as its functions. The increasing importance of residential properties as financial assets has led to heightened problems. In many countries that previously promoted state-provided rental housing, this option is declining. There is growing interest in academic, activist, and public policy circles for non-commercial housing models beyond state supervision.
One such model is the paradigm of "the common," an alternative to marketization and privatization processes encouraged by both market and state entities. This paradigm involves a non-state public element that cannot be privately appropriated or managed by the state. Housing cooperatives align with these principles by combining practices and ideas that resonate in this context.
The commercialization and financialization of housing has transformed urban habitats into commodities, driven by investment funds, mortgage-backed securities, and other financial instruments. This dynamic has dominated residential functions to the point of making city living a precarious and stressful experience. Sudden changes in interest rates, sharp increases in rents, or abrupt contract terminations can disrupt daily life.
In response, there's a renewed interest in alternative housing models worldwide, including housing cooperatives, housing associations, collaborative housing, communal housing, or co-housing. These models emphasize use over ownership and the collective over the state. They create a new player in the housing sector, distinct from tenants and homeowners, who are users of shared property.
The phase we're in today is characterized by the immediate and close relationship between local processes and global ones. The balance between residential and financial purposes, use and exchange value, has led to various state regulations favoring one aspect over the other. Historically, this has been seen through direct state provision of rental housing. However, this strategy has faced challenges and contradictions, both in terms of bureaucratic management and the ongoing tension between housing's use and exchange value.
Recently, dissatisfaction with the commercial and state management of housing has sparked interest in alternative models around the world. These include housing cooperatives, housing associations, collaborative housing, communal housing, or co-housing. These models focus on use rather than ownership and the collective rather than the state. They enable residents to participate and be active in producing and managing their homes while limiting their mercantile appropriation.
These concepts resonate with the recent United Nations campaign 'Make the Shift,' which advocates for participatory strategies in promoting housing as a right rather than a commodity. In Spain, these expressions have predominantly taken shape around the concept of housing cooperatives for use transfer, where the cooperative retains collective ownership of the property, and members reside indefinitely as users, after undergoing a process of democratization and participation.
