Focus on: Bunker Housing Cooperative, UK
UpdatedA self-build housing co-operative for families in Brighton in response to the housing crisis
Every week, the CoHabitat Network introduces you to a collaborative housing project documented on the cohabitat.io database.
Bunker Housing Co-operative was set up in 2014 after five years of trying to find affordable housing in Brighton & Hove. It started with two families with young children and teenagers but have grown and now have a membership of 10 adults plus children.
As locals lived in precarious, damp and overpriced private rented accommodation and were not able to buy and not eligible (enough) for social housing, Bunker Housing Cooperative's mission was to have affordable safe, secure and healthy homes and also to demonstrate that sustainable, affordable and high quality homes are not a luxury for the selected few.
Creating a new housing co-op was a pragmatic decision as a pathway to housing – not about alternative living but alternative form of (collective) ownership. This project has delivered an innovative scheme that has received national and local acclaim.
Bunker is currently working with architects and aim to build a further 15 community-led homes.
