Context and publication
This resource is an academic journal article, “The changing role of cooperatives in the Swedish housing regime – a path dependence analysis,” written by Bo Bengtsson and published by Taylor & Francis in the journal Housing Studies. It examines how Sweden’s cooperative (tenant-ownership) housing developed historically and how its function within the Swedish housing system shifted over time.
Cooperative housing’s scale and role in Sweden
The article situates cooperative housing as an unusually large tenure in Sweden, accounting for roughly 25% of the national housing stock. Using a path dependence lens, it explains how earlier institutional choices and reforms shaped later possibilities, contributing to the durable position of cooperatives within Sweden’s “universal housing regime” (a system in which broad segments of the population can access regulated, policy-supported housing options).
Analytical approach: path dependence
A path dependence perspective focuses on how “critical junctures” (major reform moments) set a trajectory that becomes increasingly hard to change. The article uses this approach to trace how legal definitions, policy frameworks, and governance decisions created reinforcing effects over time, helping cooperative housing expand and remain embedded in the housing regime even as its underlying purpose and operating logic evolved.
Three critical junctures shaping the trajectory
The analysis highlights three reforms as turning points. First, the Tenant-Ownership Act of 1930 established tenant-ownership as a distinct housing tenure, creating a stable legal foundation. Second, post–Second World War reforms associated with the creation of Sweden’s universal housing regime positioned cooperative housing as a central component of housing provision. Third, deregulation in 1968–1969 altered the cooperative tenure framework in ways that opened the sector to market-oriented dynamics, supporting further expansion but also changing how the tenure operated.
Key actors and influence in reform moments
Across these junctures, the main actors driving change were national politicians—especially linked to the Social Democratic Party—and leaders of cooperative organizations. The article notes that cooperative members and potential members had comparatively limited influence on the reforms themselves, differing from patterns observed in comparable Nordic contexts (such as Norway), where member influence in similar tenure reforms has been more prominent.
Mechanisms reinforcing the path
The article identifies efficiency, legitimacy, and power as mechanisms present across all three reform moments. These mechanisms helped lock in institutional choices: reforms were framed as workable and effective (efficiency), aligned with broader social and political goals (legitimacy), and supported by influential actors capable of implementing and defending them (power). Together, they contributed to a self-reinforcing development path for cooperative housing.
Long-term consequences and marketisation
A key finding is that the long-term consequences of the reforms were more far-reaching than many actors anticipated at the time. The 1930 legal framework supported long-term stability; the 1940s reforms strengthened cooperatives’ role in the universal housing regime; and the 1968–1969 deregulation initiated a process of marketisation. Over decades, the sector shifted from being rooted in a social movement focused on providing decent housing for members toward becoming an integrated component of the national housing system—and more recently, a marketised tenure form.
Implications for sustainability and social goals
The Swedish case is presented as illustrating the potential fragility of cooperative-based social housing systems, particularly where tensions emerge between ownership structures and wider socio-political aims (such as affordability and equitable access). Once marketisation dynamics were introduced, the article argues, reversing that direction proved difficult, suggesting that institutional changes can have durable effects that reshape social outcomes.
Relevance beyond Sweden
Finally, the article suggests that the path dependence framework used here can be applied to cooperative housing development in other countries. By examining critical junctures, the actors shaping reforms, and the mechanisms that stabilize trajectories, the approach can help analysts and policymakers understand how cooperative housing can expand, transform, and potentially drift from original social objectives within different national housing regimes.