in preparation

USDA’s Rural Housing Service has a loan program in place to provide assistance for rural housing cooperatives. Although the program has been available for many years, it has been used very rarely. This research assessed the reasons for this lack of use. Case studies of four existing cooperative housing projects were conducted, along with a review and critique of the USDA regulations that affect the cooperative housing program. All of the cooperatives were organized in the late 1970s or early 1980s. They range from eight to thirty-nine units, located in either the countryside or on the edge of small towns. The members are all low income, and many of them have lived for years in the co-op. Each of the co-ops has faced major crises, and they all struggle with issues of ownership and governance. Unfortunately, they have largely struggled in isolation, remote from any mutually supportive networks, or even contact with other cooperatives. These are the key conclusions reached in this study: • There must be a support system for development and operation of rural housing cooperatives. This support system should include partnerships with existing housing and cooperative resources, along with adequate compensation for services provided