limited equity co-ops

When this limited-equity cooperative in California began more than 30 years ago, it wasn’t the most affordable place to live. But now the co-op’s monthly costs are 50 percent lower than the average market-rate apartment.

Though the need is greater than ever for resale-restricted, affordable homes, the growth of this model of homeownership appears to be limited.

For Section 8 recipients, a step toward economic mobility (and community control) can be limited-equity cooperatives. A Section 8 voucher can be used to pay some of the monthly carrying costs of a co-op unit.

The commons can be understood as a set of resources that have been de-commodified: that is, these are resources that are used to directly support life, rather than to extract a profit through sale on the market.

Federal programs and cultural attitudes that helped launch a majority of the large limited-equity co-ops across the nation are long gone, but at a smaller scale, this model of resident-controlled, long-term affordable housing may be experiencing new interest.

This breakthrough study on shared equity homeownership—limited equity co-ops, community land trusts, and inclusionary units—examines the benefits of these models within a sectoral framework to redefine the housing ladder.

The Clinton neighborhood, also known as Hell’s Kitchen, sits in the western middle of Manhattan. From the urban disinvestment of the 1960s through the 1980s, it was the scene of […]

There is no reason why people who have worked so hard to build lives and improve their neighborhoods should not be able to stay there.