The final report from the International Legal Research and Analysis Initiative – The Law on Cooperative Housing (ILRAI) is now available, and it’s an important one for us. Several of its recommendations directly support the asks set out in our Manifesto for Change in England available here.
ILRAI was coordinated by Co-operative Housing International and launched by our CEO, Blase Lambert, in October 2025 at the Peace Palace in The Hague. The findings were also shared during Plenary 2 at our 2025 Conference, where Santosh Kumar, Director of Legislation at the International Co-operative Alliance, spoke about the growing global focus on the legal frameworks that help co-operative housing thrive — or, in some cases, hold it back. You can watch the Plenary here.
Why legal recognition matters
The report looks at co-operative housing laws across different countries and a clear pattern emerges. Where housing co-operatives are clearly recognised in law and backed by joined-up legal and policy frameworks, the sector is much stronger. In these countries, co-operative housing benefits from:
- greater long-term stability
- better access to sustainable, long-term finance
- stronger links to national housing systems
Put simply, the right legal conditions allow co-operative housing to grow, last, and play a meaningful role in tackling housing need.
The UK: strong values, weak frameworks
The picture is very different in countries like the UK. Here, housing co-operatives mostly operate under general company law, rather than within a legal framework designed specifically for co-operative housing.
The report recognises that UK housing co-ops have strong internal democracy, high levels of member involvement, and real community accountability. However, it also shows that partial legal recognition creates real barriers to growth. Key gaps include:
- access to land
- tailored finance for co-operative housing
- better alignment between housing, planning and co-operative policy
- the absence of a specific co-operative housing tenure
These challenges continue to limit the sector’s ability to scale, despite its proven social and economic value.
UK detail and European recommendations
There is detailed analysis of the UK context from page 37 in the Europe section of the report, with a clear summary of key legal gaps and barriers on page 50. The legal and policy recommendations for Europe are set out on page 52, and many of these closely align with the changes we are calling for in our Manifesto and our CCH Strategy.
Strengthening the case for change
Overall, the ILRAI report provides strong international evidence that clear law and joined-up policy are essential if co-operative housing is to succeed. For the UK, it reinforces the need to move beyond piecemeal recognition and towards a framework that actively supports co-operative housing as part of the wider housing system.
As conversations continue, the ILRAI report is a timely and authoritative reference point — showing that our Manifesto asks are not just values-led, but firmly grounded in international best practice.