Housing co-operatives as vehicles for decent housing delivery to low-income households: impacts of macro economic policies

Abstract

Housing Co-operative movement in Tanzania started in the late 1960s as a result of the International Co-operative Alliance idea of promoting home ownership for low-income households. This idea was in tandem with the Ujamaa policy that advocated collective action. It materialised in the 1970s when several Housing Co-operatives were established. However, starting from the 1990s diminishing trends in number and members of cooperative societies was observed. This was the period when Tanzania shifted its policy focus from socialist (Ujamaa) planned to liberalized economic environment. As a consequence to this policy shift, many Housing Co-operatives collapsed and those which could survive this wave of change had to adapt to new ways of survival. On methodological front, this study adopted results established from literature review, household interviews, interview with leaders of the cooperative societies and observation studies on the status of housing development in four case study areas. Findings emerging from the case studies indicate that most of the old Co-operative Societies have collapsed because they could not remain competitive and adapt to the changed economic environment. Yet, they registered notable achievements in terms of facilitating poor households to acquire plots, long term titles to land and properties. They also assisted cooperative members to pool resources to construct houses, access technical services, community facilities and infrastructure. This paper recommends that under the liberalised economic environment the government and other stakeholders should solicit strategies that promote cooperative movement in housing delivery. They should assist Co-operative Societies in terms of capacity building and searching for alternative financing sources for affordable housing.

Keywords: Housing Co-operatives, Housing delivery, Liberalised economic environment, Low-income households