A Matter of “Co‐opportunism”: (In)Alienability in London Social Housing

This paper explores the dynamics of temporary urban residency. It looks at the relationships between domesticity, mobility and improvisational housing – all relevant to Britain's housing crisis. Hence, I offer a reflexive ethnographic description of ‘short‐life’ co‐op living based on a five year account of managing vacant properties that await refurbishment or re‐development by two major Charitable Housing Trusts based in West London. In questioning how tenants deal with the constant threat of having to move, I ask how members of a short‐life housing co‐op create their own sense of self and stability through a temporary form of accommodation. My goal is thus to investigate how these co‐op tenants appropriate space, relocate themselves and cope with transient domestic alienability. The creative formulation of individual and community identities are central to the wider understanding and implications of residential instability, alternative lifestyles and the general underlying ethos of co‐operative organizations.