Grant-of-use cooperative housing and its relation with health and wellbeing: A conceptual framework

Grant-of-use (GoU) cooperative housing is based on the collective property of the building and the GoU as the housing tenancy, a self-managed organization and communal living. The objective is to propose a conceptual framework to explain the mechanisms involved in the relationship between GoU cooperative housing and health and wellbeing. Information was gathered through a literature review, as well as through in-depth interviews to participants living or designing GoU cooperative housing and a workshop with experts. The framework includes different dimensions placed as onion layers, where health and wellbeing are at the centre. The first dimension refers to the country's housing policies and housing system, the welfare state, and the culture and values in society. Another dimension includes residents' motivations and expectations and accessibility. The third dimension relates to the characteristics of housing cooperatives: GoU model, housing affordability, communal living, shared spaces, self-managed organization, sustainable housing, and relation with the neighbourhood. The fourth dimension includes the main proximal mechanisms that explain the impact of the GoU characteristics on health. • In many countries, housing is a market good and instead of a fundamental human right. • Grant-of-use cooperative housing (GoU) is based on the collective property of the building. • The objective is to propose a conceptual framework to explain the mechanisms involved in the relationship between GoU cooperative housing and health. • The framework includes different dimensions placed as onion layers, where health and wellbeing are at the centre.