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SSHC is GO!

12/5/2013

Many thanks to all the people who came down to our launch party on Sat 23rd Nov. It was really amazing to see such interest and engagement at our first public meeting.

Thanks also to all the people who helped out: the cake bakers, the projector lenders, the music players, the song singers. With the combination of everybody's hunger and generosity we managed to raise £37 through the cake sale! At the moment the funds are still in my TARDIS money box but we will soon be opening an official SSHC bank account and they will making their way there.

Everyone at the launch really appreciated hearing from Fireside and Brambles Co-op members talk about their experiences of co-op living. There are so many positives to communal living, and specifically communal cooking/eating, and it was terrific to hear their stories first-hand. Thanks also to the other co-ops around Sheffield that have supported us, given us information, contacts, and invited us around for a cup of tea.

After a lot of talking from us, we had a truly great open discussion about some of the key issues for a student co-op. One of the main questions that I wanted to hear your answers to was if student co-op members would be willing to put in the extra hours of work to run the co-op. Compared to the traditional lifestyle of students in landlord-owned housing, student co-op members will have to put in extra work on the maintenance of the house as well as meetings.

The consensus response we received at the launch party was that co-op members would have more responsibility, which would take time, but with that they would also have more control and power. For example, whereas many current students have to wait around in poorly maintained housing, co-op members could make the decision to either fix the problem themselves or to pay for somebody else to do it. This balance between responsibility and control may not be everyone's cup of tea, but many people would find this attractive.

Which leads on to another key point raised that evening: access. We started a debate, which I'm sure will go on for a while, about whether we should try and make the co-op as open and as accessible to as many students as possible, or whether we should build upon the community of students already interested in alternative living. It was agreed that providing co-op housing for all students should be SSHC's long term aim, but that, for now, starting small with a group of people attending working groups is the best way to pragmatically get our ideas into actions.

Thanks once again to all those who came down,

Roy

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