A Message from Our Chair, Adrian Coles, Director General Building Societies Association

‘The Commission is impartial and will receive evidence across the political spectrum and from a range of related sectors of the economy and civil society. Our Commission is to housing co-operatives what the ‘Monks Commission’ was to the wider co-operative sector in 2001; we aim to develop a long-term strategic framework for growth and management. To help forge a successful mutual future within our housing system for co-operatives and other mutual and resident or community-led organisations, the Commission will need to identify historic as well as current barriers to success. Our evidence-based approach will illuminate these issues, seek to find a way forward for housing co-operatives and mutual housing organisations, recommending practical ways to achieve expansion’.

Our Mission

The Commission on Co-operative and Mutual Housing is undertaking independent research into the co-operative and mutual housing sector, exploring its potential benefits, shortcomings and models, drawing conclusions about any current relevance and applicability of the sector, and promoting and publicising workable and desirable approaches that fit the needs of current and future housing, community and third sector strategies.

The Commission is

• Developing an up-to-date picture of the co-operative and mutual housing sector in England, its history, successes, barriers to further development and lessons to be learnt.
• Carrying out an analysis of the environment in which the co-operative and mutual housing sector operates.
• Undertaking a series of case studies of existing co-operative and mutual housing organisations to illuminate current and future housing and community issues.
• Assembling evidence from within and outside the sector through a wide range of approaches, including hearings, written evidence and electronic communication.
• Highlighting and promoting Commission findings and recommendations about potential roles for the sector within housing, third sector and community empowerment agenda.

The Commission is Exploring

• A clear and widely accepted vision for future roles of co-operative and mutual housing, advocating successful and sustainable models for development, finance and management.
• A rich future for co-operative and mutual housing that enjoys the support of a wide body of stakeholders, including housing, tenant and co-operative sectors, statutory and non-statutory organisations, and the private and third sectors.
• A realistic, viable and mainstream role in national, regional and local housing strategies, with a potential aim that members of the public could choose to access co-operative and mutual housing options if they so desire.

The Commission's Approach to Evidence Gathering includes

• A focused research programme covering existing information, case studies of varied co-operative and mutual housing models, and market research with co-operators.
• Face-to-face hearings between groups of Commissioners and key sectors such as housing co-operatives, other mutual sectors, resident and community organisations, and social housing providers, plus all political parties.
• A general call for written evidence from interested parties based around a series of key questions to which the Commission wants answers.
• A targeted call for written evidence from specific organisations from which the Commission wants to hear.
• An interactive approach based around the Commission's website and blog.