Die GWG is a housing cooperative headquartered at Grenzstraße 181 in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, with a second office in Wattenscheid, Bochum.21 Its work is focused on providing and managing housing in Gelsenkirchen and Bochum-Wattenscheid, making its geographic scope local.1112
The cooperative was founded on 18 January 1926 as the Gemeinnützige Baugenossenschaft „Vorwärts“ and entered in the cooperative register on 17 May that year.3 Its roots lie in a local effort by workers and employees to address a shortage of affordable, healthy housing. In 1938, „Vorwärts“ merged with the Gemeinnütziger Spar- und Bauverein Wattenscheid-Eppendorf, forming a cooperative serving Gelsenkirchen and Wattenscheid.
The GWG’s core activities include renting homes and maintaining, renovating and constructing housing.11 At the end of 2024, its portfolio comprised 869 homes: 247 in Gelsenkirchen and 622 in Wattenscheid; 121 were described as accessible or adaptable, and 59 were publicly subsidised.11 The organisation’s website reports around 1,420 members and more than 900 homes under management, a broader figure than the 2024 report’s owned portfolio.
Membership is central to its housing model: the GWG describes members’ occupancy as lifelong while allowing them to move to another cooperative home if their needs change.1 The organisation also states that it does not charge a deposit or brokerage fee, gives members participation rights, and reinvests surpluses in its housing stock rather than pursuing profit maximisation.1
The official imprint names Siglinde Salewski as chair of the supervisory board and Kai Oliver Lehmann and Martin Wissing as members of the executive board.2