Cooperative housing facing the financial and housing crises
Faced with the growing power of real estate speculation at international level, whose effects have been felt particularly in the USA and a good number of European countries, particularly in Southern Europe, the international meetings in Lyon, France (UCLy- 5 July 2013), propose to make a start on developing a comparison (and not an opposition) between the Latin and Anglo-Saxon models arising from social cooperation and their application in the area of affordable housing: the "Community Land Trust" representing the Anglo-Saxon model and "Latin cooperatives" of inhabitants as the Latin model.
We will be revisiting the operational principles of these cooperative housing organisations, to verify that they are well-founded, but also to consider any limitations they may have. We are also interested in the historical roots of these Latin and Anglo-Saxon cooperative movements. We would like to develop a more precise understanding of contemporary developments within these cooperative groups (USA, GB, Italy, Spain, Uruguay, etc.) and the strategies (fiscal support policies, delegation of the right of preemption to cooperative groups, core funding, ethical finance, "time banks") implemented by the actors involved (central agencies, local authorities, private actors, etc.).
The meetings will be based on four round table discussions (with simultaneous translation).
International meetings in Lyon on comparative cooperative housing , organised by the international Chair of "Habitat coopératif & Coopération sociale" (CHAIRECOOP ), will take place on:
Friday 5 July 2013. Amphitheatre of the Université Catholique de Lyon. 9 am - 4.30 pm (UCLy France).
Entitled: "Faced with the international financial and housing crises, what can we learn from the practices of cooperative housing? Comparisons between the Latin and Anglo-Saxon models".
- Morning reception (with coffee) from 8.30 am
- ROUND TABLE 1 / Financial value, non-financial value or non-value? Faced with housing and real estate speculation, how can we measure the contribution of the cooperative economy to the affordable housing sector?
- ROUND TABLE 2 / From squatting (or illegal occupation) to housing cooperatives, where should the legal limits be with regard to the production of affordable housing?
- ROUND TABLE 3 / How do inhabitants cooperatives contribute to the renewal of social democracy?
- ROUND TABLE 4 / Inhabitants cooperatives, from North and South, exceptional stories of origins and development.
Registration is mandatory for entrance into the UCLy amphitheatre (around 340 places). FREE for individuals, students, unemployed.
- MANDATORY-REGISTRATION-WITH-CHAIRECOOP
- Contact : Gilberte Agaty Landry. Secretariat of the International Chair gilberte.agaty-landry@entpe.fr
- Address for the international meetings : Université Catholique de Lyon. 23 place Carnot. 69002.France. Metro station: Ampère. Victor Hugo. (line A)
Attached are two notes specifying the themes, the questions addressed, the round tables, the network of researchers, NGOs, and charities involved, and the supporting institutions of the chair.
These international meetings have received support from the Rhône Alpes regional authority , ENTPE (Université de Lyon), Labex AE & CC. CRAterre (ENSAG), the Fondation Crédit Coopératif , the Fondation de France, the group Caisse des Dépôts (research group) and the Université catholique de Lyon (UCLy ).
Organisations invited and members of the steering committee: City College of New York (USA), Hunter College of New York (USA), Burlington associates (USA), CLT Network (USA), Picture the homeless New York (USA), Community Self Build Agency (GB), Unione Inquilini (Italy), International Alliance of Inhabitants, University of Palermo department of urbanism & architecture (Italy), Roma Tre University Laboratorio Arti Civiche (Italy), Doctoral school of the University of Seville (Spain), Repensar Bon Pastor collective( Spain), Unidad Permanente de Vivienda – Faculty of Architecture, Montevideo (Uruguay), FUCVAM (Federacion uruguaya de cooperativas de vivienda por ayuda mutua), AE & CC CRAterre (France), Les compagnons bâtisseurs (France), Habicoop (France), Habitat & Humanisme (France), AITEC (France).
Georeferences
The Volunteer translator for housing rights without frontiers of IAI who has collaborated on the translation of this text was: