Why are housing cooperatives successful? Insights from Swiss affordable housing policy

Abstract

Housing policy is primarily regulated at the municipal level, especially in view of the international trend towards the withdrawal of the national state in this sector. This article examines recent developments in Swiss housing policy in five large cities, and the counter-reactions that are emerging due to an acute housing shortage. Relying on critical literature on housing, we present the main instruments of the Swiss housing policy and empirically analyse the political debates about their implementation. Results show that housing cooperatives are the housing support mechanism that the whole political spectrum can agree on. As the vast majority of cooperatives are non-profit, we observe the puzzling situation where neoliberal processes of state withdrawal in social policies lead to the promotion of a form of housing that is mostly common property-based and decommodified. The reasons behind their success are complex, but basing policies on private initiative rather than public property and targeting the middle class contributes to their popularity.

Keywords:

• Decommodification
• housing cooperatives
• housing policy
• housing politics
• rescaling
• Switzerland

Notes

1. Housing shortage generates political activities in other parts of Switzerland as well, but in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, there were no citizens’ initiatives focusing on municipal housing policy which the electorate had to vote on in recent years.

2. Some cantons, like Basel-Stadt and Geneva extend the demand side subsidies through their own funding instruments (Bourassa et al., 2010, p. 270). Some have other support instruments as well. For instance, the canton of Zurich can match the aid of the municipality and grant-subsidized or interest-free loans to non-profit housing cooperatives. However, many cantons followed an opposite trend, such as the cantons of Bern and Lucerne, which withdrew from social housing promotion, or even revoked housing demolition bans, in times of housing scarcity.

3. When housing management is outsourced to a foundation, it is protected from the direct influence of the municipal parliament or government, and can resist financial constraints or a more market-oriented rental practice.

4. Data for the income quantiles by SLFS (2014).