AUSTIN, Texas – Numbers from the Austin Cooperative Business Association show roughly 800 residents live in cooperatives across the city.

“If you want to save money you should live in a co-op,” said co-op resident Vaidy Krishnamurthy.

Co-op living arrangements mean residents pool their resources to lower the costs of living.

“Cooperatives are a form of resident, democratically managed housing. So every resident gets one vote,” said Ryan Nill of the Austin Cooperative Business Association. 

Advocates like Nill want to see more co-ops around town, which is where the newest version of CodeNEXT, Austin’s land development code, comes into play.

The city’s current land code lumps co-ops in with sorority and fraternity houses, halfway houses and dormitories. Co-op residents want their homes to be recognized as a distinct type of housing.

The current iteration of CodeNEXT has rules about the so-called university neighborhood overlay.

“The University Neighborhood Overlay is what really allows the West Campus area to expand in height and density,” said Nill.

That UNO language allows places, like apartments, to cash in on density bonuses.

“But it doesn’t include cooperative housing, so we think cooperative housing should be included in that,” said Nill.

However, any improvements to how co-ops operate starts with them getting their own definition in CodeNEXT.

“These are very different types of housing that have very different kinds of impacts on the neighborhoods and we figured that cooperatives are different enough that we didn’t want to be with those other uses,” said Nill.