Building Cooperatives — Right to Housing

We weave joy, healing, and rapid mutual aid into organizing so residents rebuild emotional bandwidth and stay engaged through the income- and housing-power journey.

Why It Matters

  • Fifty-plus-unit properties see dozens of new leases each year; institutional landlords rely on the churn to avoid resident push-back. By anchoring monthly Healing Hours in the lobby, we create a recurring face-to-face touchpoint that welcomes newcomers and keeps veteran organizers visible.

  • Lease complaints circulate by text or elevator chatter, but a binding vote needs 51 % participation—a daunting task without a central ledger or ballot system. Our plain-language bylaws plus the Teamwork App’s tap-to-vote panel shrink the friction to seconds.

  • Buildings spend tens of thousands on cleaning, basic IT, and minor maintenance. The Talent Bank heat-map often reveals hidden Do-or-Train-level residents who can run these services if given structure and start-up help. Worker-co-op playbooks walk them from idea to first invoice.

  • Spreadsheet dues and hand-signed minutes scare credit-union underwriters. A dual ledger (dues + service revenue) backed by a Google-Sheet audit trail signals real risk management.

  • DC’s Right-of-First-Refusal letters give tenants 30 days to organize or lose the building forever. SMART & Healthy goals—WHO/WHY first, WHAT/HOW/WHEN next—produce a pre-baked action file so residents can respond in days, not months.

What’s Included in Building Cooperatives?

  • 📌 Lobby Healing Hour Starter Kit

    Smoothie bike, chair-yoga cards, pulse-check stickers—ice-breaker that doubles as first all-building assembly.

  • 📌 Two-in-One Bylaw Builder

    Click-to-edit templates for tenant co-op and optional worker-co-op subsidiary; exports ready-to-file PDF.

  • 📌 Dual Ledger + Vote Panel

    In the Teamwork App (Google Sheets backend): dues in, vendor or worker-co-op invoices out, tap-to-vote with auto-minutes.

  • 📌 Worker-Co-op Incubator Kit

    Step-by-step sprints: skills audit → cost sheet → pricing → pilot contract with home building.

  • 📌 TOPA Countdown Alerts

    Push notice, timeline, and document checklist the moment a sale notice appears on DC’s registry.

🗳 How Building Cooperatives Could Work

Resident Roles

  • Healing Hour Hosts (stipend optional)

  • Bylaw Committee Draft Team

  • Ledger Stewards

  • Worker-Co-op Founders (earn badges + revenue share)

Tools & Technology

  • Teamwork App “Wellness” lane: event signup, pulse dashboard, rapid-aid ledger

  • Push notifications for daily prompts and aid approvals

Key Decision Points

  • Pick first vendor contract to convert into a worker co-op (cleaning? Wi-Fi?)

  • Vote on dues rate after dues calculator demo.

  • Approve resident signers for credit-union sub-account.

  • Ratify bylaws & file articles of incorporation.

✋ What We Need From Stakeholders

  • ✅ Lobby Access

    Healing Hour ice-breaks the whole process with one hour, one table, one outlet.

  • 💡 Skill Ideas

    Residents with Do-level cleaning, IT, childcare skills can seeds worker-co-op pilot and cuts vendor costs.

  • 🗓 Bylaw Volunteers

    3–5 residents to adapt templates and keep lawyer fees low and culture high.

  • 🌐 Credit-Union or CDFI Intro

    Opens fee-free sub-accounts and a future line of credit.

🗣 How to Share Feedback

Two easy ways

  1. Building Survey → [Link] (rank top vendor-to-co-op ideas)

  2. Lobby Listening Table — next Healing Hour; sticky-note wall + open mic.