We’re a group of artists, crafty/maker folk, friends, green fingered, outdoorsy types and kids aged from 6 months to 46 years. We’ve come together through shared living in rented accommodation, mutual friendships and artistic collaboration. In April 2017 we constituted as a housing co-op and are now a multi-generational group living in various houses across Edinburgh and the Lothians. We warmly welcome and value a range of ages, genders, nationalities and backgrounds whether they are individuals or families. We share the common goal of living in affordable and environmentally conscious housing within a community of like-minded people. A community can then grow from this base to foster a way of living that is self-sustaining, mutually supportive and ecologically sound. Once we have become established, our aim is then to support other groups to become housing co-operatives to achieve similar goals.
Why?
Many of us have lived in rented housing for a significant amount of our lives and have come to feel increasingly frustrated. As a tenant, you can be paying significant amounts of money every month to enrich a landlord who may not treat you with very much respect. After years and years of paying rent, you still don’t have any significant rights over the property you’re staying in and could be asked to leave at any time. As well as this, many of us have spent a lot of time living in housing that doesn’t actually meet our needs, particularly when it comes to making changes to a property, or a wish to live in a more environmentally aware way.
Taking our housing into our own hands means that we are our own landlords. We can choose for our money not to contribute towards another individuals personal wealth but rather use it to enrich our lives, as well as the lives of the community around us. By becoming a co-op, we give ourselves a space to live which is secure, autonomous, affordable, non-hierarchical, socially minded and mutually supportive.
