Commoning governance under constraint: informal governance mechanisms in low-income strata housing in Malaysia

Across the Global South, formal laws governing low-income multi-owned housing often appear robust on paper yet prove less effective in practice, particularly in the management of shared spaces. Such frameworks rarely address how collective action dilemmas, including free-riding, non-participation, and everyday non-compliance, are resolved under conditions of socioeconomic constraint, contributing to the deterioration of housing environments despite legal tenure. Drawing on survey and qualitative research across five low-cost strata housing schemes in Malaysia (633 survey respondents and 29 interviews conducted between 2012 and 2024), this study examines how governance capacity emerges through residents’ ability to develop and sustain workable informal practices. Using an Ostromian lens, the analysis distinguishes between rules-on-paper and rules-in-use, identifying three informal governance mechanisms: relational density, functional necessity, and normative alignment. The findings show that effective housing management depends less on formal legal provisions than on residents’ capacity to coordinate action, enforce informal norms, and sustain cooperation over time. The study conceptualizes governance as a layered process in which formal law, informal practices, and everyday routines interact. It concludes that housing interventions are likely to be more effective when they align with, support, and selectively formalize existing informal governance practices rather than seek to replace them.