Report of the regional seminar on housing cooperatives

This report of the Regional Seminar on Housing Cooperatives which was held in Kuala Lumpur (Petaling Jaya) from 25th to 29th March, 1996 gives a good overview of the status, prospects and problems of housing cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific Region and indicates the need and strategy for future development of cooperative housing movement. The seminar gave an opportunity to learn from each others experience and will help in exploring the possibility of creating a network between housing cooperatives of the region.

The event was of particular significance firstly because a seminar on housing cooperatives was convened by the ICA-ROAP after a lapse of more than two and half decades. Secondly due to the encourage ment received from the collaborators viz; ICA Housing Committee, National Cooperative Housing Federation of India, ICA Member Organisations in Malaysia under the leadership of ANGKASA and Cooperative Union of Malaysia, and the Cooperative College of Malaysia.

The crisis we are facing today threatens our physical, economic, social and cultural survival. Poor habitation has the potential to disrupt the social-system thus destroy the very basis for life. In such a situation, it is the poorer half of human-kind that suffers the most. The cooperatives worldwide are engaged in the activities which are aimed at improving the living conditions of not so affluent people. ICA ROAP is also keenly concerned with the enhancement and encourage ment of the involvement of the weaker sections of the society as also women and youth in the activities of the cooperatives. Further housing cooperatives are also recognised for their significant role in meeting the shelter need of the people at affordable cost.

Housing is a basic need of the human-beings after food and cloth. It is a problem both in urban as also in rural areas, particularly in the developing countries of the Asian Region. Though housing cooperatives have been organised in various countries of Asia and made considerable progress in meeting the needs of its members at different degree. But their experience have not been properly and adequately documented and also in some countries they lack the one point leadership for their smooth development. This seminar was a long felt need of ICA-ROAP to undertake a review of the progress of housing cooperatives and discuss the possibility of promoting and further strengthening the housing cooperatives in the region.