Abstract

This article explores some of the key institutional challenges hindering the development of a new ‘social’ housing cooperative model in Finland. In response to rising housing unaffordability and insecurity in the private housing sector, and a retrenching social housing sector, Finland is experiencing a resurgence of practical and political interest in housing cooperatives. Based on a document study and interviews with key stakeholders, this paper investigates three Finnish housing cooperatives, all of which are part of a broader state-subsidised pilot study. Despite different operational dynamics across projects, in this paper we identify three overarching ambiguities in Finnish land and housing policy which are hindering their development. Firstly, despite support from public authorities, cooperatives are difficult to categorise within existing social housing frameworks. Secondly, due to temporally-restricted regulatory instruments, authorities are also sceptical of their long-term affordability. Tying these together, we suggest, is also a further third factor. Namely that, due to its entrepreneurial real estate policy, the City of Helsinki refuses to lease land under market rent to housing cooperatives. Contributing to international scholarship on the public-cooperative nexus, this article investigates the impacts these institutional ambiguities and contradictions can have on contemporary housing cooperative developments.

摘要

本文探讨了阻碍芬兰新“社会”住房合作模式发展的一些关键制度挑战。为了应对私人住房部门日益严重的住房负担能力和不安全感，以及社会住房部门的紧缩，芬兰对住房合作社的实际和政治兴趣正在重新兴起。基于文献研究和对主要利益相关者的采访，本文调查了三个芬兰住房合作社，所有这些合作社都是更广泛的国家补贴试点研究的一部分。尽管各个项目的运营动态不同，但在本文中，我们确定了芬兰土地和住房政策中阻碍其发展的三个总体模糊性。首先，尽管有公共当局的支持，合作社很难在现有的社会住房框架内进行分类。其次，由于监管工具暂时受到限制，当局也对其长期承受能力持怀疑态度。我们认为，将这些结合在一起也是第三个因素。也就是说，由于其创业型房地产政策，赫尔辛基市拒绝以市场租金向住房合作社出租土地。本文研究了这些制度上的模糊性和矛盾对当代住房合作社开发可能产生的影响，为公共合作关系的国际学术做出了贡献。也是第三个因素。也就是说，由于其创业型房地产政策，赫尔辛基市拒绝以市场租金向住房合作社出租土地。本文研究了这些制度上的模糊性和矛盾对当代住房合作社开发可能产生的影响，为公共合作关系的国际学术做出了贡献。也是第三个因素。也就是说，由于其创业型房地产政策，赫尔辛基市拒绝以市场租金向住房合作社出租土地。本文研究了这些制度上的模糊性和矛盾对当代住房合作社开发可能产生的影响，为公共合作关系的国际学术做出了贡献。