From shared values to shareholder value : the assetisation of a union-built social housing cooperative
(2026) In International Journal of Housing Policy- Abstract
- Under rentier capitalism, class struggle extends beyond production, encompassing the entire process of value appropriation, circulation and distribution. Housing is a stark example. In post-war Nordic welfare states, organised labour played key roles in endorsing wide provision of affordable social housing. Today, workers are not only dominated as wage-labourers but also as tenants and debtors, struggling against rising rents and precarious mortgages. How are labour organisations adjusting their role in this complex struggle? Illustrating the omnipresence of rentiership, we explore the case of an unexpected rentier: the trade union. In 1969, Finnish trade unions established a social housing cooperative, VVO, to provide affordable housing... (More)
- Under rentier capitalism, class struggle extends beyond production, encompassing the entire process of value appropriation, circulation and distribution. Housing is a stark example. In post-war Nordic welfare states, organised labour played key roles in endorsing wide provision of affordable social housing. Today, workers are not only dominated as wage-labourers but also as tenants and debtors, struggling against rising rents and precarious mortgages. How are labour organisations adjusting their role in this complex struggle? Illustrating the omnipresence of rentiership, we explore the case of an unexpected rentier: the trade union. In 1969, Finnish trade unions established a social housing cooperative, VVO, to provide affordable housing for their members. Over the following decades, VVO became one of the largest social rental housing providers in Finland. Since the 1990s, it has privatised or sold off most of its social housing stock. Known today as Kojamo, it is Finland’s largest private real estate investment company. Finnish trade unions remain among Kojamo’s biggest shareholders. This paper explores how and why unions decided to assetise their affordable housing. Through a qualitative document study supplemented with expert interviews, we find the answer in a residualising state housing policy and the retrenching role and realignment of unions’ purposes. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4f60e391-6b05-4316-87bc-620c6e6fd1a4
- author
- Charlesworth, Daisy LU and Hyötyläinen, Mika
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026-05-22
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- in
- International Journal of Housing Policy
- pages
- 21 pages
- publisher
- Routledge
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105039622867
- ISSN
- 1949-1247
- DOI
- 10.1080/19491247.2026.2668656
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4f60e391-6b05-4316-87bc-620c6e6fd1a4
- date added to LUP
- 2026-06-16 11:58:42
- date last changed
- 2026-07-02 10:43:55
@article{4f60e391-6b05-4316-87bc-620c6e6fd1a4,
abstract = {{Under rentier capitalism, class struggle extends beyond production, encompassing the entire process of value appropriation, circulation and distribution. Housing is a stark example. In post-war Nordic welfare states, organised labour played key roles in endorsing wide provision of affordable social housing. Today, workers are not only dominated as wage-labourers but also as tenants and debtors, struggling against rising rents and precarious mortgages. How are labour organisations adjusting their role in this complex struggle? Illustrating the omnipresence of rentiership, we explore the case of an unexpected rentier: the trade union. In 1969, Finnish trade unions established a social housing cooperative, VVO, to provide affordable housing for their members. Over the following decades, VVO became one of the largest social rental housing providers in Finland. Since the 1990s, it has privatised or sold off most of its social housing stock. Known today as Kojamo, it is Finland’s largest private real estate investment company. Finnish trade unions remain among Kojamo’s biggest shareholders. This paper explores how and why unions decided to assetise their affordable housing. Through a qualitative document study supplemented with expert interviews, we find the answer in a residualising state housing policy and the retrenching role and realignment of unions’ purposes.}},
author = {{Charlesworth, Daisy and Hyötyläinen, Mika}},
issn = {{1949-1247}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{05}},
publisher = {{Routledge}},
series = {{International Journal of Housing Policy}},
title = {{From shared values to shareholder value : the assetisation of a union-built social housing cooperative}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19491247.2026.2668656}},
doi = {{10.1080/19491247.2026.2668656}},
year = {{2026}},
}