“Cooperatives”

Over half a million people in Austria are members of a housing cooperative. Seen proportionally to the country’s population, this is more than twice the figure for Switzerland and one-third more than in Germany. However, despite its broad reach, the cooperative idea in Austria has become somewhat of a projection of its original idea. What does this evolution from the 1920s heyday of the cooperative settler movement tell about the complex legal framework for housing in Austria? What might be an outlook on the possible future of the cooperative idea?