This chapter deals with a wide variety of development processes which all share two broad characteristics. They are initiated by organisations in the NDA part of the model shown as Figure 3.1, but unlike other development promoted in Box NDA 1 they are undertaken primarily on a ‘non-profit’ basis. They require a separate chapter because they are neither ‘public’ in the sense of state-provided nor ‘private’ in the sense of capital-accumulative. They do, however, depend crucially on both public agencies and profit-seeking organisations at all stages of the development process.

Their promotional activity (stage 1) is increasingly ‘enabled’ and supported by local authorities, their funding (stage 2) comes from a combination of government grants and private-capital market loans, and the construction work, whether new-build, conversion or maintenance (stages 3 and 5), is normally undertaken by private contractors. The form of development they produce is mostly housing for rent, although some is for sale. Following the policy changes of the 1980s they are regarded by government as the main source of provision of ‘social housing’-in fact the percentage of all so-called ‘public-sector’ housing that is produced by housing associations has risen from 3 per cent in 1975/6 to 76 per cent in 1991/2 (Roof, March/April, 1992, 11). They normally exercise the right to allocate a proportion of the tenancies for the housing they produce and manage (stage 4) while typically the local authority will have power to allocate the rest. The development processes they carry out are often collectively described as ‘voluntary-sector’ because they are initiated not as a result of some statutory requirement but by the voluntary action of a group, or even initially an individual, with no formal democratic status or accountability. Incidentally it should be noted in passing that senior people in the sector are themselves unsure how best to categorise their activity-although very few see it as ‘voluntary’ (Dwelly, 1992).

In a book organised around the themes of urban process and power the apparent lack of democratic accountability will clearly come under some scrutiny. Without pre-empting that discussion, which will fall in Part IV of the book, it is as well to observe at this stage that in terms of user sensitivity and management participation, provision for groups who might otherwise be lost sight of, and innovation in housing design, construction and management the voluntary sector looks increasingly as if it has something very useful to offer. This chapter will include some examples of voluntary-sector work in Britain, while reference to some aspects of the work of housing associations and co-operatives in Sweden and Denmark will be made in Chapter 10.

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