A housing coop
Our situation is spectacular, with views to Dundry at the front and down the Avon Gorge with Leigh Woods and the Suspension Bridge at the back. With five floors and thirteen rooms, Windsor Terrace Housing Society now houses ten adults and four children at affordable rates, with long security to guarantee a stable upbringing for those children. We feel that, as land, energy, water and food in the world become scarce, we need to learn how to better collaborate and share more.
Our community is balanced in needs and ages (from 6 to 78), and enables us to help each other in normal daily life, building maintenance and garden care - for play and food production. We hope to show that another model for housing is possible and to eventually expand upon the splendid start we have made.
In the past year, we...
- Organised a festival on the terrace raising £2k for Cancer Research UK -
- Met every 2 weeks and collaborated online using Slack -
- Had 5 garden work days, shared many meals and went on a boat trip -
- Introduced fast Coop Wifi. Four connections replaced by one -
- Restored the front of the building -
- Launched a new website -
Our Vision
We have four parts to our vision statement
1
Political / Organisational
We are a community based on inclusion and empowerment, forming part of a solution to the housing crisis. All members are involved in the housing society’s decision-making process and share in its responsibilities. Property owned by the housing society can only be sold to another co-operative or housing trust, thus taking it permanently out of the speculative market. This provides affordable housing in perpetuity. By sharing wealth as an antidote to its isolating influence we hope to inspire others with the social and economic potential of co-operative living.
2
Community
Sharing our gifts and resources we work as a team and celebrate and have fun together. We take care to understand one another and to approach differences with responsible, honest communication. We are committed to being open to each other, whatever that takes. We encourage and support each other in being ourselves, following our dreams, and transforming perceived limitations. We consider creativity, self-expression and spiritual awareness to be essential to life, along with a deep respect for the diverse ways these are expressed. We believe that by building strength and trust in our community we will be able to respond flexibly to life’s challenges and adapt to change creatively.
3
Sustainability
We aim to reduce our ecological footprint by careful use of resources. We use renewable energy wherever we can and as far as possible, obtain goods and services which are environmentally friendly and fairly-traded. In this way, we help to build a network of sustainable living for our community and ourselves.
4
Evolution
We aim to develop our human spirit and our potential as individuals. Collectively we aspire to achieve harmonious, peaceful, loving and creative living environments. We wish to network with similar organisations, and to live lives that inspire others to join us. We aim to expand into different residential properties, urban and rural, with creative, healing and workshop facilities. Developing and sharing our skills so that we can be a resource for the wider community and humanitarian projects.
We are a community based on inclusion and empowerment, forming part of a solution to the housing crisis. All members are involved in the housing society’s decision-making process and share in its responsibilities. Property owned by the housing society can only be sold to another co-operative or housing trust, thus taking it permanently out of the speculative market. This provides affordable housing in perpetuity. By sharing wealth as an antidote to its isolating influence we hope to inspire others with the social and economic potential of co-operative living.
Sharing our gifts and resources we work as a team and celebrate and have fun together. We take care to understand one another and to approach differences with responsible, honest communication. We are committed to being open to each other, whatever that takes.
We encourage and support each other in being ourselves, following our dreams, and transforming perceived limitations. We consider creativity, self-expression and spiritual awareness to be essential to life, along with a deep respect for the diverse ways these are expressed. We believe that by building strength and trust in our community we will be able to respond flexibly to life’s challenges and adapt to change creatively.
We aim to reduce our ecological footprint by careful use of resources. We use renewable energy wherever we can and as far as possible, obtain goods and services which are environmentally friendly and fairly-traded. In this way, we help to build a network of sustainable living for our community and ourselves.
We aim to develop our human spirit and our potential as individuals. Collectively we aspire to achieve harmonious, peaceful, loving and creative living environments. We wish to network with similar organisations, and to live lives that inspire others to join us. We aim to expand into different residential properties, urban and rural, with creative, healing and workshop facilities. Developing and sharing our skills so that we can be a resource for the wider community and humanitarian projects.
