About us
In the Black Country, too many people are being left behind by a housing system that doesn’t meet their needs. We believe everyone deserves a secure, affordable, and accessible place to call home — and a community to belong to.
Black Country Cohousing is a group of people coming together to make that vision real. We’re setting up a housing cooperative in the West Midlands to create a cohousing neighbourhood designed around inclusion and connection.
Our plan is to develop a site with a mix of affordable, sustainable, wheelchair-accessible homes and shared communal spaces. — a place where LGBTQ+ people, Disabled people, and their allies can live side by side in mutual support.
By working cooperatively, we can pool our resources and create long-term housing opportunities for people too often excluded from the current market. We’re at the start of this journey, and we’re looking for others who share our values to join us, support us, and help shape what comes next.
Together, we can build a community — and a future — where everyone has a place to belong.
Who are we?
We’re a small but diverse, multigenerational group of people from all walks of life. Although our backgrounds and experiences are different, we’re united by a shared goal: to create a better, fairer alternative to the current housing system — one that offers both good-quality homes and a real sense of community.
Through cooperative ownership, we believe we can achieve more together than any of us could alone. What connects us is a shared belief in social justice, mutual support, and a commitment to tackling inequality — both within our group and in the wider community.
We see our diversity as our strength, and we’re excited to grow. If you share our values and want to be part of building something meaningful, we’d love to hear from you.
How are housing co-ops run?
Where will Black Country Cohousing be located?
We are actively looking for a site that we can renovate or build on. If you know of any location in the Black Country area or have one to suggest, please get in touch.
The Black Country is part of the West Midlands, west of Birmingham. It has a proud industrial heritage and is now entering an exciting period of renewal, thanks to an engaged local community, supportive of local projects and large-scale regeneration. From the Black Country Enterprise zone, the Brierley Hill extension of the Midlands Metro tram service, and many other projects, the Black Country is rapidly changing its image and becoming the place to be for artists, families and businesses alike.
It is ideally placed for commuting to Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Worcester but still offers a variety of better value-for-money properties than city-based locations – and with a large number of nature reserves and the UNSECO recognised Black Country Global Geo-park, it has a variety of lush green spaces too.
What is a Housing Co-op?
A housing co-operative (or “co-op”) is a kind of community-led housing where the people who live there collectively own and manage their homes.
That means residents are both tenants and landlords — we rent our homes, but we also have a real say in how things are run.
Living in a co-op offers more control, security, and connection than renting privately. Instead of profit going to a landlord, it’s reinvested into the homes and community. Members work together to create a safe, affordable place to live — and to make decisions that affect everyone fairly.
At Black Country Cohousing (BCCH), we believe community only thrives when people have both shared spaces and private space to recharge. That’s why our plans include individual homes — houses, bungalows, or flats — alongside communal areas like gardens and shared rooms for activities, meetings, and meals. This design is often known as cohousing.
We’re building more than just housing — we’re creating a sustainable, accessible, and inclusive neighbourhood where everyone has a voice, a home they can rely on, and a real sense of belonging.
What is cohousing?
Cohousing is an architectural style which appeals to many who look to create a sense of community whilst retaining private spaces. Cohousing does this by creating individual homes alongside shared spaces, such as communal gardens and other common spaces for all that live there to use. Most cohousing developments are created with a high level of sustainability in mind, as well as making them child-friendly environments – by keeping cars to the edge of the site. Loneliness is endemic in modern Britain – research has shown that developments such as these can assist in breaking down barriers between neighbours and can help create cohesive communities, and even ease chronic loneliness.
In the UK, cohousing developments are often run and funded using a model known as mutual ownership – requiring every one who lives in an individual home in that development to own it and have a share in the common spaces. Due to the need for substantial capital to purchase the property, the mutual ownership model puts cohousing out of reach for many.
Black Country Cohousing instead will be making use of the fully mutual co-operative model. No large deposit or requirement of mortgage approval is needed – making it available to far more people who otherwise cannot afford to buy a home.