Housing cooperatives resisting financialization? Lessons from Hungary

Czirfusz, Márton and Jelinek, Csaba (2026) Housing cooperatives resisting financialization? Lessons from Hungary. In: Resisting the Financialization of Housing. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, Northampton (MA), pp. 169-183. ISBN 9781035379651

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Abstract

This chapter argues that housing cooperatives could be crucial forms of definancialized housing provision. Five factors are identified which define whether housing cooperatives are definancialized forms of housing provision. These factors include democratic governance, enabling regulation by the state, advantageous financing mechanisms, the ideological integrity of the cooperative housing movement, and the institutional ecosystem. The chapter examines the extent to which these factors were present during the state-socialist expansion of housing cooperatives in Hungary. It is found that housing cooperatives were tools of commodification and financialization with limited autonomy and limited democratic decision-making. The paper highlights current bottlenecks faced by a new wave of housing cooperativism, in particular rental housing cooperatives. It is argued that a proper regulatory framework, financial support for these initiatives, and a larger institutional ecosystem is needed to provide affordable housing through this form of housing.

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