10.2190/SH.6.2.d D0QM266714N63603 4 Self-Help in the Home: The Limited-Equity Housing Cooperatives of Washington, DC 151 168 20120913 20120913 20120913 20120913 D0QM266714N63603.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=D0QM266714N63603 2 Amanda Huron City University of New York Graduate Center 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. self-help mutual aid limited-equity cooperatives housing Washington DC Borkman, T. J. (1999). <i>Understanding self-help/mutual aid: Experiential learning in the commons.</i> New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Davis, M. (2006). <i>Planet of slums.</i> New York: Verso. Gartner, A., & Riessman, F. (1998). Self-help. <i>Social Policy, 28</i>(3), 83-86. Gibson-Graham, J. K. (2006). <i>A postcapitalist politics.</i> Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Harrison Institute for Public Law. (2006). <i>An analysis of the strengths and deficiencies of Washington, DC's Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act.</i> Washington, DC: Georgetown University Law Center. Heskin, A. D. (1991). <i>The struggle for community.</i> San Francisco, CA: Westview Press. Huron, A. (2002, September). Mieterprotest Gegen Gentrifizierung in Prenzlauer Berg. <i>MieterEcho, 292</i>, 18-20. Katz, S., & Mayer, M. (1985). Gimme shelter: Self-help housing struggles within and against the state in New York City and West Berlin. <i>International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 9</i>(1), 15-46. Kolodny, R., & Gellerman, M. (1973). <i>Self help in the inner city: A study of lower income cooperative housing conversion in New York City.</i> New York: United Neighborhood Houses of New York, Inc. Leavitt, J., & Saegert, S. (1990). <i>From abandonment to hope: Community-households in Harlem.</i> New York: Columbia University Press. O'Toole, A., & Jones, B. (2009). Tenant purchase laws as a tool for affordable housing preservation: The DC experience. <i>Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development, 18</i>(4), 367-388. Riessman, F. (1997). Ten self-help principles. <i>Social Policy, 27</i>(3), 6-11. Riessman, F., & Bay, T. (1992). The politics of self-help. <i>Social Policy, 23</i>(2), 28-38. Rohe, W., & Stegman, M. (1995). Converting public housing to cooperatives: Lessons from Nashville. In A. Heskin & J. Leavitt (Eds.), <i>The hidden history of housing cooperatives</i> (pp. 105-121). California: Center for Cooperatives, University of California. Saegert, S. (1989). Unlikely leaders, extreme circumstances: Older black women building community households. <i>American Journal of Community Psychology, 17</i>(3), 295-316. Saegert, S., Benitez, L., Eisenberg, E., Extein, M., Hsieh, T.-s., & Chang, C. (2005). The promises and challenges of co-ops in a hot real estate market. <i>Shelterforce</i> (142). Turner, J. F. C. (1991 [1977]). <i>Housing by people: Towards autonomy in building environments</i> (4th ed.). New York: Marion Boyars. Turner, J. F. C., & Fichter, R. (1972). <i>Freedom to build: Dweller control of the housing process.</i> New York: Macmillan. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2011). <i>Schedule B - FY 2011 final fair market rents for existing housing.</i> Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Washington Innercity Self Help (WISH). (n.d). Washington Innercity Self Help: Empowering innercity residents to solve community problems [brochure]. Washington, DC: Washington Innercity Self Help.