A building co-operative is a co-operative housing corporation where individuals or families work together to directly construct their own homes in a cooperative fashion. Members of this type of co-operative purchase

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-ma ...

s in bulk and co-operate with other members of the co-op during the construction phase of the co-operative. When the housing has been completed the members usually own their homes directly. In some cases, roads, parkland and community facilities continue to be owned by the co-operative.

History

Building co-ops were extremely popular in many parts of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

from the 1930s to the 1960s. Father James (Jimmy) Tompkins and Dr. Moses Coady were key organizers in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

of the first building co-operatives. Through active local study groups they began research on co-operatives and developed a concept of how a building co-op could work. In 1936, Father Tompkins helped found the first self-help building co-operative in North America near Glace Bay (Reserve Mines), Nova Scotia, Canada. A group of coal miners formed a housing cooperative with a loan of CAN $22,000. The housing loan was used to pay for building materials. Each miner's personal contribution consisted of his labor or "

sweat equity Sweat equity is a non-monetary benefit that a company's stakeholders give in labor and time, rather than a monetary contribution, that benefit the company. Sweat equity is rewarded in the form of sweat equity shares. These are shares given out by a ...

". The miners worked together to build eleven homes which they moved into in 1938. These homes continue to be occupied today at Tompkinsville. {{DEFAULTSORT:Building Cooperative Cooperatives

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...