Social housing: common needs, common paths, and common barriers. The Uruguayan experience

Abstract

This paper attempts to describe a particularly successful model of social production of habitat, that of Uruguayan housing cooperatives, which has already been developed for more than half a century, linking it with the conclusions of studies on the management of common goods by the people own selves by the Elinor Ostrom. Uruguayan housing cooperative´s characteristics and central aspects are analysed. Main singularities of the system are self-management, direct involvement of future uses throughout their work or savings, and collective ownership of the houses, granting the right to use and enjoy to households. Subsequently, it is made a brief presentation of Ostrom's work on commons and the Uruguayan cooperative model is taken up considering these concepts. This paper concludes that this social housing model´s wood have great potential if had the support of the governments, currently oriented to free market, throughout development of an adequate legal framework, public funding, and access to land.