"Affordable Living is Our Specialty!"
In Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, housing cooperatives are playing a significant role in providing affordable housing and promoting social security. These community-based entities, represented by the Verband norddeutscher Wohnungsunternehmen e. V. (VNW), have their economic goals centred around ensuring housing accessibility and sustainability for residents.
The cooperative model, with roots traced back to the 1847 founding of the first cooperative models by Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch and Friedrich-Wilhelm Raiffeisen, has evolved to become a cornerstone of the housing sector in these regions. The Allgemeine Deutsche Schiffszimmerer-Genossenschaft eG, founded in 1875, is considered the oldest housing cooperative in Germany.
Today, there are around 2,000 housing cooperatives in Germany that rent out 2.2 million apartments, with approximately 600,000 people living in these apartments at affordable rents. In Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg alone, 96 housing cooperatives offer around 250,000 apartments.
To balance affordability with climate protection, these cooperatives often engage in initiatives that support sustainable practices and energy efficiency. This includes implementing energy-saving technologies and practices, using eco-friendly materials and designs in building projects, and partnering with organizations like metr to digitize the housing industry and make buildings more sustainable.
Housing cooperatives view ambitious climate neutrality goals with heightened skepticism, fearing that tenants will bear high costs while climate protection is scarcely served. However, they also acknowledge the importance of addressing climate change and are open to collaborations that can help achieve these goals without unduly burdening their residents.
The Association of North German Housing Companies (VNW) praises housing cooperatives as guardians of social peace in Germany. They are landlords that promote peaceful coexistence and invest in urban development. In rural regions, housing cooperatives serve as an important economic anchor, contributing to the society through their sustainable economic approach.
On July 5, 2025, the United Nations and the International Cooperative Alliance ICA will celebrate the International Day of Cooperatives, highlighting the vital role cooperatives, including housing cooperatives, play in creating sustainable and equitable communities worldwide.
- The economic goals of housing cooperatives, rooted in the 1847 cooperative models by Schulze-Delitzsch and Raiffeisen, extend beyond the real estate sector, reaching finance, lifestyle, home-and-garden, and education-and-self-development, as they foster sustainable practices and energy efficiency for better living conditions.
- In the realm of business news, these community-based housing entities, like the Allgemeine Deutsche Schiffszimmerer-Genossenschaft eG founded in 1875, are stonewalling ambitious climate neutrality goals while maintaining an emphasis on low-cost rents for their residents numbering approximately 600,000 across 2.2 million apartments in Germany.
- On the horizon, future collaborations between housing cooperatives and key players in the finance, education, and general news sectors will be instrumental in addressing climate change, while ensuring economic stability, peace, and development in urban and rural regions alike, as propagated by the Association of North German Housing Companies (VNW) on the International Day of Cooperatives, celebrated worldwide on July 5, 2025.
