Community of Urbana Champaign Cooperative Housing
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Community of Urbana-Champaign Cooperative Housing, or COUCH, is an association of student housing cooperatives in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It is a member of NASCO.
COUCH began in 1997 as an umbrella organization for the independent housing co-ops in the Champaign-Urbana area, but was also founded with the vision of creating a larger co-op community to advance co-oping, establish community, and achieve economies of scale within the co-op community. It currently consists of four houses:
- Gwendolyn Brooks Cooperative(Urbana), a 14-member house, opened its doors as a member-controlled co-op house in August 2001.
- Harvest House Cooperative (Urbana), another 14-member house, was also founded in 2001.
- La Casa Grande Colectiva (Urbana), founded around 1970, houses seven members and is the oldest independent co-op in Champaign-Urbana.
- Phoenix House (Champaign), a four-to-five member co-op, sprang from the ashes of the Green House cooperative (1985-2001) in 2001.