Governance of collaborative housing: towards an urban commons?

Cities worldwide are grappling with escalating housing costs that burden lowincome citizens and threaten to turn urban centres into exclusive spaces. In Berlin, where the majority of residents are tenants, housing commons have emerged as a source of hope for urban citizens and activists concerned with guaranteeing residents’ right to housing and a resident-centred city. In parallel, there has been a resurgence of interest among citizens and local authorities in collaborative housing, characterised by both community and self-governance structures. However, scholars have questioned state support for the movement based on its exclusivity in stark contrast with its promises to create inclusive housing and social cohesion at the neighbourhood scale.
This study examines the impact of state governance on the development of CH as a housing commons in Berlin, that is, as a decommodified, non-state form of collaborative housing that pursues the goals of inclusivity and serves the interests of the neighbourhood and city as a whole. It analyses policy documents and communication materials published by the state of Berlin, as well as semi-structured interviews with 9 state actors, CH developers and activists.
It finds that the provision of state resources can support the production of more inclusive forms of CH and contribute to the commoning of housing in the city. However, the increasing requirements for accessing resources, resulting from the Senate’s focus on professional actors with upscaling potential and the active promotion of social justice objectives in housing, raise the barriers for small groups to participate in the creation of the CH commons. This is problematic for the self-governance and community aspects of the CH commons. Appropriate participatory processes and structures, especially in non-profit projects initiated by bigger actors (cooperatives, social housing providers), represent an opportunity to reconcile the issues of self-governance and community with the social justice ambitions of the commons (including their extension and inclusiveness). However, the austerity politics in which CH is increasingly embedded are a major obstacle to the development of CH Commons of this sort.