Housing cooperatives developed since the late 19th century across the world and have taken various forms depending on the context. From Scandinavia to South Africa, from Canada to Argentina, and from Switzerland and Serbia to Thailand, housing cooperatives have different characteristics and names (owner or tenant cooperatives, zero or limited equity cooperatives, leasing cooperatives, Baugruppen, among others).

“Adequate housing” is a human right, recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which is indispensable for the realisation of other rights. Although it is commonly mentioned in national constitutions, this right is often not guaranteed in practice or violated, especially in times of crisis.

A global survey and 52 interviews were carried out between September and November 2020 to document, understand and analyse the responses developed by communities and individuals living in various types of housing in different countries to the multiple crises caused by the pandemic.

Around the world, many ancestral, traditional, and modern ways of producing housing can be considered as community-led when they are based on the participation of residents in the design, and sometimes in the building and management process of housing, shared facilities and neighbourhoods. In some Community Led Housing, CLH approaches, the non-speculative management of land and housing by an entity like a communal organisation, cooperative, foundation or land trust are at the core of the project design. These collective and non-speculative ownership models promote alternatives to the commodification and financialization of housing, and a way to materialise the right to adequate housing and the social function of land (see reference below). CLT is also known as “collaborative housing” especially in Europe, and as Social Production and Management of Habitat in Latin America (see references below).