Spartan Housing Cooperative (SHC) is a nonprofit member owned and operated housing cooperative. The SHC was formed as in 1969, as a federation of existing student housing cooperatives in East Lansing. Since the first of the SHC's member houses formed 69 years ago, SHC has accumulated more than 4,000 members.
The Spartan Housing Cooperative currently maintains 17 houses in East Lansing, Lansing, and Okemos.
# In 1971, the MSU SHC became a collective land trust with donations of property from Bower, Elsworth, and Hedrick cooperatives.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1939 | Hedrick co-op established at 415 Abbott |
| 1940 | Elsworth co-op established at 218 Albert |
| 1941 | Hedrick members purchase the house at 903 East Grand River |
| 1944 | Bower purchased in the summer at 708 E. Michigan State University |
| 1946 | Motts Co-op established; Ulrey men's co-op established |
| 1947 | Bower co-op established |
| 1948 | Howland co-op established; All Nations co-op established; Hedrick repopulated at 903 East Grand River |
| 1949 | Beal Street co-op established |
| 1950 | All Nations co-op closes; Elsworth sells 218 Albert, the members build 711 W. Grand River |
| 1954 | Hedrick co-op on 903 E. Grand River burns down |
| 1956 | Hedrick co-op rededication at 140 Haslett (now Collingood) by MSU President Hannah |
| 1963 | Howland co-op buys 548 M.A.C. |
| 1964 | Hedrick co-op purchases 146 Haslett (later to be Farency co-op) |
| 1969 | SHC forms as a federation of Bower, Elsworth and Hedrick; Ulrey Men's co-op closes, starts up Ulrey Trust Fund; Ulrey Women's co-op starts up at 437, 445 Abbott |
| 1970 | Eleutheria co-op established (rental property); Evergreen co-op established |
| 1971 | SHC becomes a collective land trust; Motts house closes, members move to 420 Evergreen (aka The Raft) |
| 1972 | The Raft is renamed Knight House co-op; Eleutheria destroyed by fire; Ulrey Women's co-op established at 505 M.A.C.; Eleutheria and Ulrey repopulate Nexus; Nexus established at 437/445 Abbott; Evergreen co-op sold to local apartment building owner's, Phunn: Bogue Street co-op rented at 207 Bogue. |
| 1973 | Haslett Street becomes Collingwood; 501 M.A.C. purchased (potentially new housing for Nexus or new Comm) |
| 1974 | Tralfamador co-op established at 501 M.A.C. |
| 1975 | Knight House renamed Major Raoul Lufberry; Phunn House purchased at 207 Bogue |
| 1976 | 445 Abbott sold to a sorority; 152 Collingwood purchased as a part of Hedrick; Nexus closes at 437 Abbott; Phoenix established at 437 Abbott |
| 1978 | New Community: 415/425 Ann Street is purchased |
| 1979 | Phoenix closes at 437 Abbott |
| 1980 | Major Raoul Lufberry closes; SHC obtains a $1 million HUD loan for: Woodside (910 Abbott, a co-op for a year), New Community rehabilitation, Key Largo established at 146 Collingwood, and Atlantis |
| 1982 | Atlantis repopulated at 207 Bogue; Ulrey repopulated at 505 M.A.C. |
| 1985 | Elsworth co-op close, rented to [Asher Christian Scientists]; Ulrey renamed Zolton after Zolton Ferency at 505 M.A.C. |
| 1986 | 146/152 Collingwood break away, renamed Key Largo |
| 1987 | Elsworth at 711 W Grand River rented to Sigma Alpha Mu (SAMmies); 146/152 Collingwood split; 152 Collingwood rented Asher Christian Scientists; 146 Collingwood becomes Key Largo |
| 1988 | 501 M.A.C turned into a graduate co-op |
| 1989 | 501 M.A.C. reopened to general membership |
| 1991 | Miles co-op established 152 Collingwood |
| 1992 | SAMmies expelled and repopulated as an Elsworth at 711 W Grand River |
| 1993 | Zolton closes at 505 M.A.C. |
| 1994 | Phoenix established at 239 Oakhill; 415 Ann repopulated as a co-op (Toad Lane); Key Largo renamed Ferency after Zolton Ferency |
| 1995 | Audre Lorde renamed Niko co-op |
| 1996 | Orion changes its name to NASA; Elsworth closes from Summer until the Fall |
| 1997 | NASA renamed Orion |
| 1998 | Bower repopulated by Atlantis, Elsworth, Hedrick, Miles, and Orion; Alliance between SHC and Circle Pines formed; SHC grants Sigma Pi exclusive rights to Phoenix co-op |
| 2000 | Phoenix repopulated by SHC, Sigma Pi moves to Niko |
| 2001 | Niko (Sigma Pi) renamed Shadowood |
| 2002 | Sigma Pi leaves Shadowood and leaves the SHC; Shadowood repopulated and renamed Mosier |
| 2009 | SHC acquires the independent co-op Beal House after the previous residents were unable to pass city inspection or pay their taxes |
Some of the earliest student co-ops in the United States were established around the turn of the century. In Austin, Texas, and in Gainesville, Florida, students began by providing themselves with meal plans. These programs eventually led to early housing co-ops.
These co-ops continued, observing and participating in the rise of the Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA), and weathering the First World War and the Red Scare of 1919. As the twenties came to an end and the Great Depression set in students, like most people in the US and Canada, were barely able to get by. However, the co-op activist and religious leader Toyohiko Kagawa provided the nation's students with a renewed vision of social and economic cooperation. With the spark of Kagawa's enthusiasm, the 1930s saw the establishment of such long-standing co-ops systems as those in Berkeley, California; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Toronto, Ontario.
The Second World War slowed much of the momentum of this period; many co-op members were drafted for the war effort. However, the end of the war, with the introduction of the GI Bill, saw new demands for student housing and the establishment of co-op systems in Ithaca, New York; Oberlin, Ohio; and Lincoln, Nebraska.
The late forties also saw the first attempt at a national student co-op organization: the North American Student Cooperative League (NASCL). Although quite successful at first, NASCL lost its major funding source, CLUSA, who cut support in the mid-fifties.
In the sixties, the political fervor over the free speech movement and the antiwar movement brought new enthusiasm to student cooperatives, this time as a social and political alternative to the postindustrial capitalist system. Government support in the form of low-interest housing loans in the US and Canada also contributed to the new boom in student co-ops. In 1968, the new NASCL, the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO), was formed. Since that time, NASCO has served as the main networking and support system for student co-ops.