In recent decades, the housing shortage and multi-dimensional housing challenges, including lack of physical quality, accessibility to urban amenities, lack of social characteristics and habitability conditions, have increased worldwide. In Latin American countries faced with some of these challenges, many governments have formulated a wide range of policies and housing programs. In Chile, the State has delegated housing production to private companies. This approach has mostly affected the location, quality, and social dimension of housing. In other urban contexts, such as in some European countries, inhabitants facing similar issues have self-organised to develop their homes driven by pragmatic and radical goals. From a Global North perspective, these initiatives, characterised by collaborative processes between future residents and external stakeholders in housing production, are labelled under the umbrella term of Collaborative Housing. In Latin America, there is also a long tradition of self-organisation in housing through self-building and self-management processes. In Chile, there has been recent interest from resident groups, third sector organisations and the current government in promoting collective self-organised housing through specific programs. However, the concept of collaborative housing has been mainly researched and theorised from a Global North perspective. Furthermore, the meaning and potential of collaborative housing to address housing deficits from a multi-dimensional standpoint have received limited attention in academic research in Chile. This PhD research fills this knowledge gap by applying the collaborative housing concept to study collective selforganised housing in Chile. To this end, it proposes a conceptualisation of ‘Collaborative Housing’ in the Latin American and Chilean context and determines its dimensions. It also investigates its opportunities and limitations when addressing the Social Deficit of Housing, plans scenarios, and proposes policy strategies. The research applies mixed methods, including a policy review, case studies, interviews, and Delphi-based scenario questionnaires. This dissertation concludes with scenarios and long-term policy strategies for three collaborative housing models emerging in the country: cooperativas cerradas de vivienda, pequeños condominios, and vivienda colectiva. It also provides recommendations that serve as a guide to stakeholders interested in implementing collaborative housing. ... Read more

Housing cooperativism in Chile shows a discontinuous trajectory through different arrangements between the State, the market, and civil society. Since the mid twentieth century, cooperatives and self-organised housing developed alongside each other. While cooperatives for waged workers were supported by the government, a self-managed housing movement grew amongst the popular classes. The Military Dictatorship and its neoliberal reforms from 1973–1989 meant the demobilization of both groups and the fracture of the existing knowledge of self-organisation and cooperativism in housing. Despite this rupture, since the 2000s, cooperatives are re-emerging thanks to renewed links with Latin-American cooperativism and government’s support to self-management. From a historical perspective, we examine the main challenges faced by the re-emerging cooperatives amidst a persistent neoliberal policy environment. Our theoretical lens combines cooperative value-orientations with examples of agency in the new cooperatives. We conclude that the future of housing cooperativism in Chile depends on its positioning between ‘pragmatic’ and ‘reformist’ values to align with their environment. ... Read more

In recent decades, various programs have been developed as part of Chile’s housing policies to respond to the housing deficit. Most policies have so far focused on addressing the quantitative, qualitative, and urban deficits, neglecting the social dimension of housing. At the same time, the concept of collaborative housing has been referred to as a possible alternative to respond to these social challenges by fostering social cohesion, collaboration, and mutual aid. This article explores how collaborative housing can tackle the social deficit of housing. Here, we conceptualise this deficit as ‘the lack of non-physical or intangible social characteristics given among residents of a project, such as trust, social cohesion, and a sense of community, necessary for housing to be considered adequate.’ We examined the relation between these two concepts by developing a theoretical and empirical study. The first consisted of a theoretical framework and a review of literature on collaborative housing’s response to the social deficit of housing. Second, we interviewed stakeholders from two study cases. We found that residents in both collaborative housing cases perceive an improvement in their social interactions, sociability, trust, and sense of community in their current homes compared to previous homes. Therefore, we conclude that collaborative housing presents opportunities to tackle the social deficit of housing. ... Read more

After decades of battling the quantitative and qualitative housing deficits, Latin American countries are seeing new types of challenges in housing. Neoliberal policies favouring individual (low-cost) homeownership have weakened social trust and solidarity between neighbours, and some housing areas face poor urban amenities. An example of this is Chile, where housing policy measures have brought adverse effects such as deteriorating housing quality and the relocation of families to peripheral areas. This has caused the breakdown of family ties, community life, and social cohesion. Although various studies on the housing deficit in Chile have been carried out, these studies have not comprehensively addressed the multiple dimensions of housing. Therefore, this review explores how Chilean housing policies have addressed the housing deficit from four dimensions: quantitative, qualitative, urban, and social. To this end, we reviewed Chilean housing policies and programmes and their response to the housing deficit from the neoliberal period onwards. We found that these policies and interventions have focused on solving the quantitative and, to a lesser extent, qualitative and urban deficits while sparsely addressing the non-physical or intangible social dimension. We conclude this article with recommendations to address the social deficit of housing in future policies. ... Read more

Nowadays in Chile, the need for housing is growing rapidly (Ducci, 1997, 2006; Hidalgo et al., 2016; Sabatini et al., 2001; Vergara et al., 2019; Walter, 2016). Current housing challenges go beyond satisfying quantitative and qualitative deficits, but extend to deficits in the social dimension (Cortés Urra & Czischke, 2019) concerning for example social cohesion, solidarity (Bresson & Denèfle, 2015; Carriou, 2012; Chatterton, 2015; Czischke, 2018), reciprocal relationships, social capital, mutual help and community life (Lang et al., 2018). Different studies developed around the world propose the re-conceptualization of Collaborative Housing (CH) as a collective housing alternative, led by (a group of) residents organised in combination with stakeholders (Fromm, 2012; Lang, Carriou, & Czischke, 2018), that among its drivers and features consider the aforementioned social issues, to address urgent issues in today's society (Czischke et al., 2020). CH initiatives are characterized by a high level of participation of society (Coudroy, 2015; Czischke, 2018; Fromm, 2012) and give local communities and residents the opportunity to produce their own housing with help of the third sector, non-profit organizations, NGOs, and community organizations (Fromm, 2012; Lang, Carriou, & Czischke, 2018). Currently, in Chile, as well as in Europe, we recognize the interest in developing collective initiatives such as co‐operatives and projects of "self-management" and "self-building". However, the scientific evidence showing whether CH initiatives have the capacity to solve part of the social deficit of housing has not been found before. Therefore, this paper seeks to determine the opportunities and shortcomings of CH forms when addressing the social housing deficit (as defined in this article). The methods used are a Delphi method to survey a group of residents living in CH projects and global systematic literature review on the multidimensional (quantitative, qualitative, social) deficits of housing and on collaborative housing, where the literature is classified and categorized as either hypothetical, theoretical, or empirical evidence of the opportunities and limitations of Collaborative Housing to respond to social aspects of housing. The initial results of the research are exploratory and form the hypothesis that CH could have advantages over the traditional Latin American housing model (e.g. Chilean model), since it considers social aspects of housing. The relevance and impact of this article lie in the generation of scientific knowledge of the study of alternative forms of housing and the proposal of favourable future scenarios that contribute to the existing Chilean housing system and similar contexts around the globe. ... Read more

In the face of societal challenges such as decreasing housing affordability, population ageing, individualisation and climate change, Europe has seen a rise in collaborative housing. Such housing comprises a wide range of collectively self-organised residential projects, which have in common collaboration between groups of residents and professionals aiming at providing affordable and sustainable housing. Despite increasing research on these practices, existing data about collaborative housing are currently scattered across national and regional levels, preventing a comparative understanding of the challenges and opportunities that these new housing forms offer. Furthermore, comparative data are needed to facilitate mutual learning and communication amongst users across countries and regions. This leads to the following research question: how can we categorise different collaborative housing forms that exist across Europe, in a way that helps compare and analyse the most salient characteristics, and so bring current scientific and applied debates further? To help fill this knowledge gap, we develop a scientifically validated categorisation of collaborative housing. To do so, we applied a mixed-methods approach including the development of a Delphi study drawing on insights from academic and practitioner experts across Europe. We provide an overview of different collaborative housing forms in Europe on the basis of data collected from Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The resulting evidence-based and theoretically-informed categorisation aims to contribute to the debates about the role that collaborative housing can play in solving the above challenges. We find local differences combined with international similarities, and observe tensions between generalised meanings and regional understandings. ... Read more

After decades of battling quantitative and qualitative housing deficits, countries in Latin America are seeing new types of challenges in housing and neighbourhoods, namely the weakening of social trust, solidarity between neighbours and networks of mutual help. The region has a long history of self-help approaches in housing, which have proved instrumental to provide housing and also to help build strong social ties between neighbours. However, decades of neoliberal policies favouring individual (low-cost) home-ownership, combined with land liberalisation and the ensuing socio-spatial segregation, have resulted in weakened self-organisation capacities amongst residents. A case in point is Chile, where families are located in peripheral areas of the city, as a consequence of the granting of subsidies and plans to eradicate informal housing. This has resulted in the loss of social capital, breakdown of the family and social networks and solidarity systems between neighbours. Recently, international research proposes a re-conceptualization of collective self-organised and self-managed housing alternatives, under the umbrella term “collaborative housing” (CH), where local communities collectively produce their housing in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders. This paper explores the opportunities and limitations of CH forms to address the housing deficits from a multi-dimensional perspective, with a special focus on what we term housing “social” deficits. We do so through a systematic literature review, in two parts: first, we focus on the definition of housing deficits in the literature, namely: urban, quantitative, qualitative, and social. Secondly, we look at the literature on the potential of various CH forms to address the housing deficits across these different dimensions. The article concludes by proposing a definition of social deficits in housing and puts forward a set of propositions on the potential of CH to tackle these deficits, with a focus on the Chilean housing context. ... Read more

After decades of developing housing plans to battle housing shortages, unaffordability and housing deficits, it is observed that problems persist in Latin American countries. International research shows that in order to solve the current housing crisis, initiatives of self-organized and self-managed groups of residents known under the umbrella term of collaborative housing (CH) are (re-) emerging in many countries of the global north. In these housing forms, a high level of participation of the inhabitants prevails, which allows them to produce, design and build their own homes with the help of non-profit organizations. Currently, in both the global north and south, we recognize the interest in developing collaborative self-management and self-build initiatives as an approach to respond to housing deficits. However, in the global south, more specifically in Chile, theoretical and empirical evidence of the collaborative processes in the housing system has not yet been explored. This raises the following questions: What are the dimensions of CH?, What is the "collaborative" dimension in a Latin American context like Chile? What are "collaborative" precedents in the Chilean housing system? This article proposes the conceptualization of the CH dimensions and a study of historical precedents of what could be called “collaborative housing” in Chile. To this end, the article presented a literature review on the historical precedents of the Chilean housing system, interviews with housing experts and visits to projects. The article concludes with some perspectives and strategies on CH as a possible solution to address the housing challenges in Chile. ... Read more

Nowadays in Chile, the need for housing is growing rapidly. Current housing challenges go beyond satisfying quantitative and qualitative deficits but extend to deficits in the social dimension concerning for example social cohesion, solidarity, reciprocal relationships, social capital, mutual help and community life. Different studies developed around the world propose the re-conceptualization of Collaborative Housing (CH) as a collective housing alternative, led by (a group of) residents organised in combination with stakeholders, that among its drivers and features consider the aforementioned social issues, to address urgent issues in today's society. CH initiatives are characterized by a high level of participation of society and allow local communities and residents to produce their housing with help of the third sector, non-profit organizations, NGOs, and community organizations. Currently, in Chile, as well as in Europe, we recognize the interest in developing collective initiatives such as co‐operatives and projects of "self-management" and "self-building". However, the scientific evidence showing whether CH initiatives can solve part of the social deficit of housing has not been found before. Therefore, this paper seeks to determine the opportunities and shortcomings of CH forms when addressing the social housing deficit (as defined in this article). The methods used are a Delphi method to survey a group of residents living in CH projects and a global systematic literature review on the multidimensional (quantitative, qualitative, social) deficits of housing and on collaborative housing, where the literature is classified and categorized as either hypothetical, theoretical, or empirical evidence of the opportunities and limitations of Collaborative Housing to respond to social aspects of housing. The initial results of the research are exploratory and form the hypothesis that CH could have advantages over the traditional Latin American housing model (e.g. Chilean model) since it considers social aspects of housing. ... Read more

En un contexto de crisis global de acceso a la vivienda y con una política habitacional que muestra crecientes señales de agotamiento en Chile, emerge la necesidad de buscar alternativas para hacer posible la realización del derecho a la vivienda. Diversas organizaciones de pobladores y pobladoras han buscado obtener mayores espacios para la autogestión de sus proyectos habitacionales, encontrando en las cooperativas de vivienda una opción para desarrollar estos objetivos. En este documento se proponen algunos lineamientos para apoyar el desarrollo de cooperativas autogestionarias en Chile, basados en la revisión de experiencias internacionales y la historia del cooperativismo de vivienda en el país, sumado al análisis de recientes iniciativas piloto para cooperativas de vivienda cerrada que son financiadas por el Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo a través del Fondo Solidario de Elección de Vivienda (DS49). La propuesta contiene lineamientos en torno al modelo de financiamiento, el régimen de propiedad y gestión del suelo, el modelo de gestión y ayuda mutua, y las condiciones de habitabilidad, con el objetivo de fomentar los principios de la autogestión, la democracia y la solidaridad en un modelo cooperativo que pueda convertirse en una alternativa plausible para el acceso a la vivienda. ... Read more

Collaborative housing (CH) is (re)emerging in many countries of Europe as an initiative to solve the current housing crisis. It is a model where collaboration and a high level of inhabitant participation prevail. Currently, in Chile, as well as in Europe, we recognize the interest in developing CH as an approach to answering shortcomings of the current housing system. We argue that its implementation might have some advantages compared to the traditional ways of housing provision in Chile, e.g. individual ownership and rent. Presently, the housing system faces problems that the institutional system of provision has failed to solve, such as lack of affordability, quality, and residents’ empowerment. In order to critically assess the possibilities of CH models to contribute solving these challenges, this paper proposes an analytical framework to study the historical precedents of what could be called CH in Chile, along with some preliminary perspectives about the feasibility of its implementation. ... Read more