CLOSER.COOP
WHO
Bobbie Cornell
WHEN
21 July 2020
VENTURE / ENTERPRISE
CLOSER.coop
DESCRIPTION
A commercial, for-purpose, co-operative organisation delivering co-operative villages to ensure perpetually affordable, connected, living opportunities for New Zealanders.
PROBLEM
Absence of an affordable ‘intermediate market’ for housing In New Zealand. In Tauranga alone 29,850* rental households cannot afford to buy in the current market and more than 1,610* new houses are required per year to accommodate growth. Then there are the 29,000* 1-2 person households predicted to be required in Tauranga by 2047 (according to 2018/19 Smart Growth research). Extrapolate these numbers across Aotearoa and the challenge is immense caused by the unconstrained free-market approach to housing enabling individual commodity and speculative value to be prioritised over policies requiring allocations to meet NZ’s human-rights responsibilities and necessary support for collective and community wellbeing.
OBJECTIVES
The team are reducing the time and cost to deliver community focused-developments co-created with communities. And increasing critical social and environmental outcomes which exceed any delivered through development norms widespread today.
HYPOTHESES
Bringing together residents, landowners, builders and other stakeholders, taking innovative approaches to ownership, finance and design, CLOSER’s passionate team are creating a new pathway to the resilient, wellbeing-enhancing living environments we strive for, for all people.
PROGRESS
Established in August 2017 at a Startup Weekend event to develop ‘hardware’ – homes, infrastructure and provision for shared amenities, and ‘software’ – community building, governance, facilitation and finance. The founder and co-founding team have landed development finance, resident financial product to enable purchase of Co-operative housing, architecture and building partners, pre-sales, 100’s of registered prospective residents, developed an Incorporated Society for Co-operative governance and advocacy, support from COOPNZ and 40+ members.
OUTCOMES TO DATE
Initial incorporation of partner/shareholders underway, pilot project and two years of pipeline in two regions in place.
TO DO
Launch
LOCATIONS
Tauranga, Katikati, Welcome Bay
SERVICES USED
Events, 1-on-1 Venture Support, Programmes, Network
Thank you for your support
Community Supporters
