Self-Help in the Home: The Limited-Equity Housing Cooperatives of Washington, DC

Amanda Huron

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DOI: 10.2190/SH.6.2.d

Abstract

Though "self-help housing" has been theorized since at least the 1970s, principles of self-help from the community psychology literature have rarely been applied to housing. In this article, I apply three self-help principles to a set of case studies of limited-equity housing cooperatives in Washington, DC. I determine that the principles of self-determination, experiential learning, and social homogeneity are important elements of healthy limited-equity cooperatives. I also take up a key critique of self-help—that it focuses on the individual at the expense of broader societal change. Some limited-equity co-ops in my study recognize the need to expand their self-help work out into the broader community. My research shows that prospects for expanding self-help in the home out into society are uncertain. Yet it may be that turning outwards provides the best way to ensure the continued internal health of the co-ops themselves.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.