Coop Conversations

Ana Džokić - MOBA - Europe

Ana Džokić is an architect, with over 20 years of experience pioneering unconventional approaches to the challenges of contemporary urban development. Ana is a founding member of two civil associations that deal with the unsustainability of the current housing condition. In Belgrade, Ko Gradi Grad is setting up a new breed of non-speculative housing cooperatives; in Rotterdam, Stad in de Maak manages “toxic assets” of stranded Dutch welfare housing. She is the founding director of Pametnija Zgrada, the first housing co-operative established in Belgrade in the last 20 years, and a member of the management board of the European Cooperative Society, MOBA Housing. She is also one of the founders of the energy cooperative Elektropionir in Belgrade, Serbia, a pioneer in small-scale solar in Serbia. Elektropionir was instrumental in changing Serbian law to recognize communities as prosumers - producers of electricity for self-consumption.

Chan Hong, Minsnail Housing Co-op, South Korea

In this episode, we talk to Chang Hong, Facility Manager for Minsnail Housing Co-op in the Republic of South Korea. Chan discusses the origins and evolution of Minsnail Housing Co-op. It started off as a student housing civil organization in Seoul, South Korea that sought to create more affordable housing for students and young people. Ten years later, Minsnail Housing Co-op has 15 homes in three different cities. Join us for this conversation with Chan and find out more about Minsnail's journey since 2011 and what the co-op is planning for the future.

Brel Hutton-Okpalaeke NASCO - United States

Brel Hutton-Okpalaeke is our guest for today's Coop Conversation episode. Brel is the Director of Development at The North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), a network of student co-ops educating and organizing an emerging generation of cooperators. They talk to us about co-op life in Madison, Wisconsin, and the benefits of raising a young child in shared housing.

Emma Liebherr, Co-operative Housing Ireland - Carlow, Ireland

In our latest podcast episode we talk to Emma Liebherr, who recently moved in a co-op housing community in Carlow, Ireland. In her previous home she was a victim of anti-social behaviour, but is now settled in what she describes as her forever home. Living in a co-op allows her to raise her family in a safe, spacious and welcoming environment.

Martin Müller, ABZ Housing Cooperative - Zurich, Switzerland

In our latest podcast episode we talk to Martin Müller, a long-time ABZ housing co-op resident in Zurich, Switzerland. Martin also works for ABZ, Switzerland's largest housing cooperative. ABZ builds, administers and maintains 5,000 apartments in and around Zurich, where 11,000 people live in 60 different residential areas. Martin talks about how he and his family feel incredibly lucky to be living in a housing co-op and how their neighbours are like an extended family. Listen to Coop Conversations wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Sarcee Meadows Housing Co-op and the Women’s Circle - Calgary, Canada

In today's podcast episode we talk to Fariha, Fatima, Zaid and Juju, four youth living in Sarcee Meadows Housing Co-operative in Calgary, Canada. Living in Sarcee Meadows has given these four youth great opportunities to not only feel welcome and part of a larger family but to also learn about community service. We're also joined by another co-op member, Kathy Aubichon, also known as Auntie Kathy. She discusses the Women’s Circle, a group initially formed to learn more about the different cultures living in the co-op which has evolved into a larger entity doing important work in the larger community.

Brenda Torpy and the Community Land Trust Model in the United States

In this episode, we talk with Brenda Torpy who championed a type of affordable land ownership model called a Community Land Trust. She started with the Champlain Housing Trust in Burlington, Vermont in the USA over 35 years ago when she worked in the office of Mayor Bernie Sanders. Today there are now over 260 CLTs in the United States and over 300 in England and Wales. The Champlain Housing Trust is the largest Community Land Trust in the world with 3,000 homes of all types throughout northwestern Vermont serving people experiencing homelessness, homes for people with special needs, affordable apartments for the working class, and a pioneering shared equity home-ownership program that removes financial hurdles for buyers while creating housing that is permanently affordable. 

Coopérative d'habitants Chamarel Les Barges, Vaulx en Velin, France

La vie dans une coopérative d'habitation pour personnes à la retraite est sujet de cet episode. Nous discutons avec Anne Frostin et Chantal Nay, deux femmes qui vivent dans la Coopérative d’habitants Chamarel les Barges à Vaulx en Velin, tout près de Lyon en France. Anne et Chantal nous disent pourquoi elles ont choisi de vivre en coopérative et comment leurs enfants sont soulagés de savoir que leurs parents vivent indépendamment dans une communauté chaleureuse et solidaire.

Coop Conversation with Sarah Jensen - Castlegreen Housing Co-op, Thunder Bay, Canada

In this very first episode of our new podcast series, we talk to Sarah Jensen, a university student from Thunder Bay, Canada, who grew up in Castlegreen Housing Co-op where she still lives today. Sarah describes the strong bonds she has formed in her community and how getting involved in her co-op and the wider co-op movement has influenced her and shaped her life so far.