The credibility, reach and influence of the GAA was underscored this week by the nomination of former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin as Fianna Fáil’s candidate for the Áras. For cynics, the GAA was traditionally Fianna Fáil at play, so these two foundational forces of this republic coming together for the top job shouldn’t come as a surprise – at least to outsiders. For those on the inside of either organisation, things might look different. Diehard Fianna Fáilers probably feel that one of their own apparatchiks should have been picked, while there are those within the GAA who feel the organisation is apolitical, home to enthusiastic members from across all parties, and that Fianna Fáil appropriating the GAA isn’t a good look for the association.
While it remains to be seen whether the GAA is the key to unlocking the Áras, this community-centred, co-operative, nationwide association should deploy its resources to solving a more important concern than the presidency. The GAA could be part of the solution to the Irish housing crisis, particularly in rural regions. Many young couples in rural areas can’t afford homes. A way to solve this is through co-operative housing, which has been pioneered in Denmark, providing affordable homes to thousands of middle- and low-income Danes.
Rather than be stuck in this doom-loop where we accept as an inevitability that younger generations will never be able to own their own homes, we need to do with housing what the GAA has done with sport: build a community-centred, bottom-up, cross-country association of co-operative homes, characterised by the same type of volunteerism that sets the GAA apart and makes it such a wonderful and unique part of modern Irish culture.
[ Houses are being built in Ireland, so why can’t ordinary people buy them?Opens in new window ]
At its core co-operative housing is community ownership and self-management of housing. Instead of buying individual properties on the open market, residents come together to form a co-operative association, which collectively buys or develops housing. Each buyer purchases a share in the co-op rather than a deed to a single house or apartment. This means the co-op owns the land and buildings as a whole, and members have the right to occupy their own home. Crucially, decisions about the housing; maintenance, rules, rents or prices and new memberships are made democratically by the resident members on a one-member-one-vote basis. In a co-operative, the co-op itself buys the land and develops housing.
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In Ireland we have the perfect vehicle to finance co-operative housing. Our network of credit unions are essentially community-run, co-operative banks and they are operating all over the country. In terms of keeping this land off the market, a separate entity called a community land trust (CLT) which holds the land in a trust, ensures that once built, the land doesn’t suffer from speculation, so it stays affordable long-term.
The aim is to build a community, sharing amenities such as creches, keeping costs down, designed by the members of the co-op themselves. Distinct from social housing, members of the co-op are not tenants, they are owners with a responsibility and a stake in the community they are building. Such communities, as in Denmark, are also intergenerational – young and old live in a co-operative, which allows the young to afford a home but also helps prevent loneliness among the elderly. You know your neighbours because you are all part of the co-op.
International experience shows that co-operative and community-led housing can scale up to make a significant impact.
About 7 per cent of Danes live in co-operatively owned housing, and in the capital Copenhagen about a third of all housing units are owned through co-ops. Danish co-op housing (the andelsbolig system) was boosted in the 1970s by laws allowing tenants first rights to buy buildings and convert them to co-ops. The result today is a large sector of housing that is neither private speculative nor state-owned, but member-owned. These co-ops provide moderate-income households in Denmark an alternative to private renting, with fixed share prices and transparent costs. No one should expect to make a windfall profit but everyone can comfortably afford the mortgage on two below-average incomes.
[ An answer to Ireland’s housing crisis is right behind usOpens in new window ]
To join a co-op, you have to be a resident of the co-op to begin with (for example, you were raised within the co-op) or join a waiting list. Nepotism works in your favour here. If your family members already live within the co-op, your application is usually fast-tracked. Foreigners can only buy in if they have Danish citizenship, and private corporations are not allowed. Once you are accepted, you can then buy a share of the co-op, limited to one share per person. The share often equates to 20-30 per cent of what the flat would cost to buy. The rest of the build cost is borrowed by the co-op, which in Ireland could be borrowed from the local credit union, which would mean that local money stays local and builds local. Typically, a co-op member in Denmark pays a monthly housing cost of about €800, which will go towards maintenance, and covering the overall co-op’s mortgages. For example, a Copenhagen co-op flat might have a share price of €70,000 –€100,000 and monthly fees of €500 –€800, while an equivalent private flat would cost €400,000 and €1,200 in rent. If you want to leave, you sell your share back, at a controlled price. As there are no developers, there’s no developer margin – traditionally about 25 per cent of the final price – and there are no selling or marketing costs. Finally, the local council can assign and zone land explicitly for co-ops, keeping prices to a minimum. All this keeps costs aligned with people’s income.
To roll this out in Ireland, it could be managed by a countrywide association that already has a track record in co-operative development. And this is where the GAA could come in. The GAA has always been more than a sports body. It is one of the most successful voluntary organisations in the world – a co-operative, community-driven movement rooted in almost every parish, town and village in Ireland. Its clubs are built on sweat equity, trust and the simple idea that together we can do more than alone. Imagine if the GAA’s existing network of clubs and community leaders – men and women who already marshal volunteers, fundraise locally, and maintain facilities collectively – were extended into co-operative housing provision, inspired by the Danish model. Just as GAA clubs build stadiums, clubhouses and gyms without profit, they could spearhead nonprofit housing associations.
I’m writing this from Inis Mór, where the locals complain that they are being priced out of the market by holiday home owners. It’s hard to think of a better place to start co-operative housing than in the Gaeltacht. A GAA-led housing co-operative could prioritise Gaeltacht families and Irish-speaking young adults on waiting lists. Just as the GAA protects and promotes games as Gaeilge, it could protect the very communities where Irish is spoken daily by anchoring them with affordable, permanent housing. The housing initiative becomes not only an answer to the housing crisis but also a language-preservation policy by stealth – ensuring future generations of Irish speakers can live, raise families, and play for their local club at home.
