CHANE is the New England affiliate of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives (NAHC). It is one of ten NAHC-affiliated Associations serving housing cooperatives of all kinds in the USA. It was previously known as CVCHA, the Connecticut Valley Cooperative Housing Association. Both CVCHA and CHANE focus on providing services to housing cooperatives. Membership in CHANE includes membership in NAHC.
CHANE's Principal Officers include president Kimalee Williams, vice president James N. Dancy and secretary/consultant Roger Willcox. All three are experienced cooperative housing professionals. As CHANE officers, they provide educational and technical assistance to CHANE members on a probono basis. Kimalee and Roger routinely respond to technical questions received by phone calls and emails from members. One or both of them have usually met at least once, and in some cases repeatedly, with the Boards of Directors of CHANE's housing cooperative members. Both serve on the Board of Directors of NAHC. Roger was a founder of, and continues to serve as NAHC's President Emeritus.
NAHC represents directly and through its affiliated Associations more than one million families and individuals living in housing cooperatives. Its mission is "To represent, inform, serve, and inspire the nation's housing co-ops."
CHANE has a similar mission - to "represent, inform, serve and inspire" housing cooperatives - in New England. There are more than 200 housing cooperatives in New England, ranging in size from less than ten families to nearly 1,000. Most of them are in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Some are "limited equity co-ops" serving low to moderate income families. Others are or have become "market rate", serving families with incomes ranging from moderate to high.
CHANE's By-Laws and its Programs and Services may be viewed by clicking on them.
Most housing cooperatives provide "group home ownership." Cooperators get all the benefits attributable to home ownership. They own all the shares or memberships in the corporations that own the buildings in which they live. Through those corporations they operate and maintain their property for their mutual benefit. Usually they operate in accord with the established Rochdale cooperative principles. In most cases, housing cooperatives also own the land under the buildings.
CHANE also recognizes and accepts as members other kinds of housing cooperatives, including those that own the land but not the individual dwelling units, and cooperatives which just own common areas and community facilities. Conversions to cooperative ownership by purchasing rented land under mobile and modular home communities are becoming a major source of new housing cooperatives in suburban and rural areas. Calling them "Resident Owned Communities", a new national organization called "ROC USA" is becoming a major source of new housing cooperatives.
The basic principles of housing cooperatives include no discrimination, democratic control with one member one vote, continuing education and nonprofit operation for the mutual benefit of all members. A more detailed statement of these principles and related standards may be found in the CHANE By-Laws and also in the NAHC By-Laws.
For more information about CHANE and NAHC please explore our websites: CoopHousingNewEngland.org and www.NAHC.coop.
Kimalee Williams, President
Cooperative Housing Association of New England (CHANE)
50 Founders Plaza, Suite 200
East Hartford, CT 06108
(860) 250-1046
Kimalee@coophousingnewengland.org