Community and mutual ownership:What is its relevance for society today?

Community and mutual ownership: Vibrant Voices Past

Stephen Thake,

JRF Programme Advisor

Toronto G20 meeting

• Breakdown of consensus

• European retrenchment

• Chinese obduracy

• Washington paralysis

• Double-dip recession

Relevance to today

• Crisis with a long lead time

• Communities take the strain

• Structural shifts in global economy

• Birth of a new community sector

• Community ownership of assets

IoE History Project

• 2,000+ year history of appropriation

• Early History to 1050AD

• Feudal to 1450

• Early Modern to 1750

• Industrial Capital to 1945

• Post WWII to 2010

Models and legacies

• Common and customary

• Community

• Co-operative and mutual

• Charities

• Municipal and state

Commons and customary

• Celtic culture

• Roman erosion

• Angles, Saxons and Normans

• 16th – 18th century enclosures

• Conflation of state and common good

• Living legacy

Community

• Early origins

• Defended and promoted in Feudal times

• Ever present since

• Diggers and levelers

• 19th century model communities

• 20th and 21st century initiatives

Co-operative and mutual

• Alternative model of wealth creation

• Response to growth of industrial capital

• Penetrated every corner of society

• Capable of scalability

• Marginalised in 20th century

• Major legacy

• New shoots

Charities

• Charity as an early Christian tradition

• Institutionalised under Elizabeth I

• 19th century expansion

• Marginalised in 20th century

• Professionalised over last 30 years

• Continues to as a powerful force

State and municipal

• Dominant strand for organised labour

• Role of state post-WWII

• Struggled to relate to rapid change

• Poor managers of assets

• Rationalisation of public portfolios

• Call for community ownership

Voices from history

• Continuing turmoil

• Scope for community and mutual action

• Systemic and continuous investment

• Template of purpose, values and ethos

Big Agenda for Big Society

• Part of our DNA

• Role of the community in times of stress

• Hidden histories of discrimination

• State has not promoted or protected

• Control of assets and access to resources

• Bill of Rights built into legislation

Community and mutual ownership:What is its relevance for society today?

Community and Mutual Ownership

‘Social innovation in organisational forms’

Tom Shakespeare

8th July, 2010

Overview

1. The current and future challenges for the public sector

2. Current thinking on how to deliver better services at lower cost

3. The value of community and mutual ownership4. Implications for governance and political

arrangements5. Social innovation, the state and the ‘Big Society’6. The challenges to overcome

About Localis

•Think tank for local government and localism•Facilitate a network of members including councils from all parties•Aim to stimulate and challenge the current orthodoxy of the governance of the UK•To argue for greater decentralisation of power from central to local government•Tom Shakespeare, Director of Policy and Research

• All of these make the need for reform a political reality

The challenge for the public sector over the next few years is enormous…

• The need for public sector spending cuts• Low and falling levels of public sector productivity• Plateauing of public service performance • Low public perceptions of many political institutions• Collapse of trust in institutions generally• Inequality still high

Therefore, somehow we need to deliver genuinely better services at much lower cost…

• All of these make the need for reform a political reality

• Measured improvements in local government at the same time as decreased satisfaction

• Services are not designed around the needs of customers, residents or citizens

But the current approach has had it’s day...

• All of these make the need for reform a political reality

There are a number of ways that local areas are thinking about better services at lower cost…• Total Capital• Joined Services• Strategic Commissioning• Personalisation• City Regions (and historic counties)• Financial innovation, charging, bonds etc• Early intervention• ‘Big Society’

But where does community ownership fit in?

Community ownership solves a number of problems...

• Customer satisfaction and trust – Direct ownership• Public sector productivity – ‘John Lewis Model’• Performance Improvements – Driven by more

demand led, customer driven services

But what about other key areas?1.Public sector costs and efficiency2.Delivery at the right spatial scale3.Accountability4.Early intervention, innovation and tackling inequality

Community Ownership and the State1.Community ownership, public sector cost and efficiency•Privatisation vs public ownership - Outsourcing, in house, co-operatives – is this as relevant?•Economies of scale vs efficiency of localisation - Total Place, Gershon, personalisation –what is the right spatial scale for different services?•Targets vs general competence - CAA, targets, power of general competence, local oversight – where does accountability lie?

These all pose questions about the role and structure of the state...

Community Ownership and the State (cont.)2.Community ownership and the right spatial scale•Local community vs council and private sector – ‘human services’, ‘non-human services’ – is everything right for community ownership?•Porous boundaries vs stricter boundaries – MAAs, sub regional working, etc – what encourages more collaboration at the right level?•Parish Councils vs county/unitary – closer connection, rural/urban issues, responsiveness – what are the right democratic structures to represent the ‘community’?

Accountability is a key consideration for models of community ownership...

Community Ownership and the State (cont.)3.Community ownership and accountability•Vertical accountability vs local autonomy – Confusion, duplication – How can we clearly delineate roles without creating confusion over responsibility and accountability?•Commissioning Council vs Council provider – Potential for more community ownership with commissioning?•Passing powers up vs passing powers down – France, Basque region, importance of finance – What is the right relationship between the central/local state?

All of these structural questions are important because they allow the potential to do things radically differently...

Community Ownership and the State (cont.)4.Community ownership, early intervention, social innovation and tackling inequalityThe Challenge:•Need to move to a more preventative state•Challenge is that many people have multi-dimensional, complex needs – the state has no real response to this•The result is that inequality is not reduced and social problems are exacerbated•This requires truly joined up services to capture the benefits back into the public sector over time (structural importance), but it also requires funds that the state simply does not have...

Community Ownership and the State (cont.)4.Community ownership, early intervention, social innovation and tackling inequalityThe Solution?:1.Pass ownership of costly assets to the community – who can run them more efficiently2.Find financial products which can capture the benefits of early intervention and prevention3.Provide an environment for community enterprises to grow and thrive – support, advice etc – then other services could potentially be outsourced or commissioned by government

The ‘Big Society’ - A summary •We have a system which is too centralised and dominated by state and private monopolies•We need a more flexible, open and adaptable state that can allow popular capitalism and community ownership to thrive•Building a better system from the bottom-up will require the central state to relinquish power and for there to be sufficient capacity for new forms of community and local enterprises to take it’s place

Despite positive steps, there are still a number of challenges going forward...

The Challenge for the future•Creating the right environment for mutual and community ownership•A cultural shift towards demand-led services rather than meeting central targets•Moving towards porous boundaries between different parts of public service delivery locally•Capitalising on existing opportunities for reform•Pooled budgets require a different model for local government, which may face some resistance•Real local power requires autonomous control over finances

Conclusion•There have been some positive noises from the government, and some steps in the right direction•But true social innovation will require a radical transformation in the way the state is structured•Community and mutual ownership offers solutions to at least some of the challenges we face•Local and central government must recognise the role of such organisations and create an environment for them to succeed

Thank YouFor more information, please visit

www.localis.org.uk

Community and mutual ownership:What is its relevance for society today?

Co-operative & mutual housingMeeting

future housing needs

JRF conference8th July 2010

Bringing Democracy Home

• CCMH set up in 2008• independent body• evidence gathering – call for evidence,

hearings, research• report launch Nov 2009 by then

Housing Minister John Healey

“The overwhelming weight of the evidence that has been presented to us has led us to the clear conclusion that the UK needs to bring co-operative and mutual housing options into our national housing policies”

Bringing Democracy Home

Key conclusions

• co-operative and mutual housing has the potential to respond to the needs and aspirations of ordinary people in an uncertain housing environment

• above average levels of satisfaction• as good as, if not better,

performance• wider individual & community

benefits• the benefits derive from community

ownership/membership

Key conclusions

• it’s a tiny sector in the UK - 0.6% of UK housing supply

• 18% in Sweden; 15% in Norway; 8% in Austria; 6% in Germany

Key conclusions

The coming together of:•sympathetic national & local Government•support frameworks•grass roots community development

Key conclusions

Co-operative & mutual housing

• housing co-ops – small & community• tenant management – community

control• community gateway – a model of

best practice in large housing associations

• community land trusts – rural housing• cohousing & mutual retirement

housing• adapting to suit needs and

circumstances

Challenges

• historical perceptions• governance & support frameworks• Britain’s best kept secret• making it happen

Making it happen

• volume development & multi-tenure• CCMH finance group• local authority pathfinders• housing association partners• developing grass roots community

Making it happen

“We call for an aim to be set that by 2030, each town, village and community should be able to offer co-operative and mutual housing options to potential residents”

Co-operative & mutual housingMeeting

future housing needs

JRF conference8th July 2010

Community and mutual ownership:What is its relevance for society today?