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Building co-operatives are Co-operative Housing corporations where Individual s or Families work together to directly Construct their own Home s in a cooperative fashion.

Members of this type of co-operative purchase Building Material s in bulk and co-operate with other members of the co-op during the construction phase of the co-operative. Once the housing has been completed the members usually Own their homes directly. In some cases, Road s, Parkland and community facilities continue to be owned by the co-operative.

Building co-ops were extremely popular in many parts of Canada from the 1930s to the 1960s . Father James (Jimmy) Tompkins and Dr. Moses Coady were key organizers in Nova Scotia of the first building co-operatives. Through active local study groups they began research on co-operatives and developed a concept of how a building co-op could work.

In 1936 , Father Tompkins helped found the first self-help building co-operative in North America near Glace Bay (Reserve Mines), Nova Scotia, Canada. A group of coal miners formed a Housing Cooperative with a loan of CAN $22,000. The housing loan was used to pay for building materials. Each miner's personal contribution consisted of his labor or " Sweat Equity ". The miners worked together to build eleven homes which they moved into in 1938 . These homes continue to be occupied today at Tompkinsville .