A Guide to Cooperative Housing

What is a Cooperative

A cooperative is a group of people working together in a joint economic activity that is owned and operated by its members for their mutual benefit.

In a housing cooperative (or co-op), a housing development is jointly operated by its members. They own membership certificates in the corporation, giving them the right to occupy a dwelling unit and participate in the operations of the corporation. The cooperative housing corporation owns the total property. A not-for-profit corporation.

A cooperative is a business controlled by the people who use it. It is a democratic organization whose earnings and assets belong to its members. By patronizing and becoming an active member of a co-op, you invest yourself with the power to shape that business. You control the politics and economics of what is truly your organization.