Wooncoop is a housing cooperative headquartered in Ghent that buys, renovates and manages residential buildings which its members then rent long term. Founded in 2017 as a cooperative company under Belgian law, its registered office is in the Ghent district of Sint-Amandsberg.
Instead of individual home ownership, residents buy cooperative shares and become co-owners of the organisation, while paying a monthly rent to wooncoop for their dwelling. The cooperative owns the buildings and keeps them off the speculative market, aiming for predictable cost-based rents and long-term management.
According to recent figures shared in an EU social innovation case study, wooncoop manages 132 homes in 13 housing projects, with another 102 homes in development. Projects are spread across Flanders, with Ghent as a core base but with activity in other cities as well.
Cohousing Bellefleur in Ghent is one of its flagship projects: a 24-unit renovation that includes one “solidarity apartment” reserved for lower-income residents and financed collectively by the community and impact investors. The project received the 2024 Architectuurprijs Gent for its architectural and sustainability qualities. Other named projects include De Wasserij in Ghent, and initiatives in places such as Herk-de-Stad (MoosHerk) and Mechelen (Patershof).
Wooncoop presents its long-term goal as reaching about 1,000 housing units by 2040, which it considers an upper limit for remaining participatory while gaining enough scale to be financially robust.