Cleveland Owns launched our Co-op Housing program because we know decommodified housing is key to building the solidarity economy. Our work with co-op housing has three main goals:

1. To educate Cleveland residents on housing cooperatives, building community knowledge and power 
2. To document and publicize existing housing co-ops in Cleveland
3. To establish new limited-equity housing co-ops that will be permanently affordable. 

Here’s how we’re addressing each:

Education - In the Fall of 2024, we hosted the first cohort of the cooperative housing study group, using a curriculum co-op housing organizer Prerna developed. With over 50 participants, and demonstrated interest from more folks, we saw a strong desire and need for cooperative housing education and organizing. We plan to host another iteration of this group soon. To hear about future opportunities to join the study group, please fill out our interest form.

Publication - To deepen our understanding of the history and context of co-op housing in Cleveland, we published two documents Prerna created.

The first is an eight-session study group curriculum exploring the basics of what it takes to start and live in a successful housing co-op, including incubation, development, financing, and cooperative culture skillbuilding. Read the curriculum here.

The second is a landscape analysis of cooperative housing projects across Ohio, with a focus on the origin story, legal structure, financing mechanisms, decision making and governance tactics, and resident costs and responsibilities of three Cleveland-based cooperatives. Read the landscape analysis here. Learn more about both at our blog.

Organizing - We’re organizing with working class tenants who want to purchase the multi-family buildings they live in. Our goal is to enable working-class Clevelanders to collectively steward housing that’s at-cost and beholden to no landlord.

While we’re starting small, we envision a regional network of resident-owned housing co-ops, like those in Austin and New York City, that are immune from the rapacity of private equity firms and the displacement of gentrification, that provide housing and community, that promote solidarity and collective power.

What is co-op housing?
Co-op housing refers to cooperatively owned & governed housing, often structured to remain permanently affordable. Key tenets of co-op housing include the following:

• Collective, as opposed to individual ownership; the housing co-op is the legal entity that owns the housing unit
• Members own a share in the co-op corporation and the right to occupy a unit in the co-op; instead of paying rent, monthly fees go to paying off the share mortgage and to cover maintenance
• All types of housing are eligible for cooperative ownership: high-rise apartment buildings, garden style apartments, townhouses, single family homes, mobile home parks, etc.

Interested in Co-op Housing?
If you are looking to start a housing co-op, convert your existing building or residential neighborhood into a housing co-op, or seek information/support in another cooperative housing endeavor, get in touch with our co-op housing organizer, Prerna, to explore how we can support you at prerna@clevelandowns.coop.

To stay up to date with our cooperative housing events, resources, and future study group opportunities, fill out our interest form.