First Fremantle Housing Collective
First Fremantle Housing Collective began in 1985, when the founding committee lodged an application for funding under the Local Government Community Housing Program (LGCHP). Land owned by the State was purchased and the State also guaranteed the loan.
SNAPSHOT
Location: Fremantle, Western Australia
Date established: 1987
Number of dwellings: 14
Land area: 4,986 square metres
Number of residents: 33
Demographics: Inter-generational
Shared facilities: Gardens and a common house, which includes a kitchen, hall, office, and a laundry.
Guiding Principles
- Membership of a co-operative society should be voluntary and available without artificial restrictions or any social, political, racial or religious discrimination to all persons who can make use of its services and are willing to accept the responsibilities of membership.
- Co-operative societies are democratic organisations. Their affairs should be administered by persons elected or appointed in a manner agreed by the members and accountable to them. Members of primary societies should enjoy equal rights of voting (one member, one vote) and participation in decisions affecting their societies. In other than primary societies, the administration should be conducted on a democratic basis in a suitable form.
- All co-operative societies should make provision for the education of their members, officers, and employees and of the general public, in the principles and techniques of co-operation, both economic and democratic.
- All co-operative organisations, in order to best serve the interest of their members and their communities, should actively co-operate in every practical way with other co-operatives at local, nation and international levels.
Aims
To develop responsible tenant self-management
- As well as having rights all members of housing collectives have an obligation to ensure that their collective is managed responsibly.
To build a supportive community
- Providing decent, secure and affordable housing based on the principles of friendship, self-help and skill sharing.
To provide housing which is managed co-operatively and not based on profit motives.
To make provision for education
- Provide a positive learning environment for members and their families, officers and employees, and the general public in the principles and techniques of co-operation – principally within the First Fremantle Housing Collective community to energise members and combat apathy and secondly within the broader communitybased education and awareness campaigns for the general public.
To co-operate among co-operatives
- In order to best serve the interests of its members and their committees, First Fremantle Housing Collective will actively co-operate in every practical way with co-operatives at local, national and international levels to strengthen and mobilise the co-operative movement and work for housing justice for all people.
What makes it special
- The development consist of three, 2 storey terrace houses and three, single storey detached houses for families, four semi-detached houses for couples and four semi-detached houses for singles.
- No car parking is provided adjacent to the dwellings in order to retain the natural environment. Instead parking is provided in communal areas on the perimeter.
- The hall is also made available to outside groups to promote the integration of the co-operative into the general community.
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