Department of Economics Working Paper Series An Evaluation of Limited equity Housing Cooperatives in the United States

Limited equity cooperatives (LECs) are evaluated within the following frame-work: 1) the effect of resident participation on operating costs, 2) the disutility of time and effort that members devote to co-op activities, 3) the intangible ben-efits of co-op living, 4) the degree of subsidization, and 5) the financial viability of LECs. As a result of information gathered from interviews of field practition-ers and academic experts, the authors ’ personal experiences, and a review of the literature, LECs are seen as an effective way of providing home-ownership oppor-tunities for low-income families the United States. 1Introduction Limited equity cooperatives (LECs) are currently being discussed as one of the ways to offer the opportunity of home ownership to low-income familie