About us

ABC Southwark Housing Co-operative Ltd is a tenant run Co-op managing approximately 40 properties in south east London on behalf of Hexagon Housing Association and Optivo. It was established in 1999 as the result of a merger between three existing co-ops.

More about the Co-op's history

How we operate

The Co-op is run by its members who are responsible for taking decisions at monthly meetings. A number of sub-groups focus on different aspects of management such as finance, maintenance etc.

In addition a worker is employed to carry out day-to-day administration and be a central point of contact. The worker is in the office one or two days a week. We share the office and the worker's services with another co-op called South Bank CHA.

The Co-op has a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer who have certain formal responsibilities, and are elected each year at the Annual General Meeting. There is no Management Committee - all decisions are taken by general meeting of the members.

In return for affordable housing and security of tenure members are expected to participate in the running of the organisation by attending meetings and joining one of the management sub-groups.

By participating, all members have the opportunity to learn new skills whilst helping to run the Co-op and keeping rents low.

More about the benefits and responsibilities of being in a housing co-op