The Queer Housing Co-operative (QHC) was established with a mission to develop an affordable queer housing co-operative in Dublin.

The group are holding a free public meeting on January 8 at 19:30 at Outhouse to discuss exciting new ideas and projects for the year.

Community, co-operative activists and members of Dublin city council will attend. There will be speakers, followed by a workshop to get your input into QHC plans and to broadly understand the issues specifically facing the queer community around housing in Dublin city.

Everyone is encouraged to attend the public meeting to share experiences and ideas that can go towards creating affordable queer housing in Dublin city.

For more information, see Facebook. You can join the QHC Queer Housing Co-operative Facebook group here.

What is a Housing Co-operative?

Housing co-ops are registered not for profit organisations. They exist to house their members.

All tenants are members, and all members need to be tenants or prospective tenants.

The organisation is run according to co-operative principles, giving all an equal say – and an equal responsibility – in the management of the housing.

If the co-op should ever cease to exist, its assets have to stay within the co-operative movement; they cannot pass to the members or be used to invest outside the co-operative movement.

Thus, by coming together and acting co-operatively, the tenants gain access to quality housing they control that would be beyond their individual finances, housing that remains in common ownership and accessible to all.

Once such queer housing co-op already in existence is the Skylark Co-operative who have recently purchased a house in Brighton, the aim of this particular co-op is “to provide a safe, stable and supportive environment for generations of politically and socially active individuals”.

Their website states:

“We believe this is even more important at a time when other forms of housing are further out of reach. With the introduction of the squatting ban, austerity and continual rises in rent prices, many people like ourselves are struggling to find suitable housing.

“The house will however provide a productive living space for a diverse group of individuals and ensure the continuation of vital social and ecological projects for an equal society.”