Building Communities (Routledge Revivals)

<p><em>Building Communities: The Co-Operative Way</em> first published in 1988 sets the flourishing of housing co-operatives throughout the 1980s in a theoretical and historical framework that suggests that tenant control is the best way out of the still-problematic issue of housing policy.</p><p>Before the First World War co-operative housing was poised to become a potent force in government policy but instead municipal housing rose to prominence. However alongside a growing crisis of confidence in state housing and a continued decline in the private rented sector a new political consensus has emerged that has placed co-ops firmly at the top of the agenda. </p><p>Setting out the argument for collective dweller-control of housing Birchall demonstrates that the arguments for co-operatives are strong based on a broad spectrum of political thought. He charts the early and recent history of co-operative housing and shows how they provide a flexible and stable means of meeting housing needs.</p>