Getting involved with her local housing co-op in her mid-40s launched an impressive housing career for Maureen Stables. After her first marriage ended, she was looking after four teenagers and couldn’t afford a court battle to keep her home.

“I was working for my local authority and someone told me about a new housing co-operative development. I was the only prospective tenant, but I was very interested,” says Maureen.

In 1979, she became a member of Furbank Housing Co-operative in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire – and rented a home from its establishing landlord, CDS Co operatives, now the largest secondary housing co-op in the UK.

“CDS wanted someone to join its board. Its London base was a 30-minute train journey away but I decided to go for it,” she says. The move turned out to be the catalyst for Maureen’s new career. “I learnt a lot about housing and asked lots of questions until I got answers I fully understood.”

By 1982, she had become chair of CDS and she’s been there ever since. “I suppose they keep electing me because I can’t keep my mouth shut,” she says. “I know a lot about housing, I’m very strong on governance, and I’m fair to other board members by encouraging them to speak.”

Now in her 70s, Maureen reflects on the importance of that opportunity. “Very often when people come out of a bad marriage their confidence is shaken. I didn’t have a career and I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my ability to do things. Getting involved made me realise how I could make a difference.”

She had soon accrued enough sector knowledge to lead Praetorian Housing Association, and later became director at Alamo Housing Co-operative and then West Hill Housing Trust.

By providing housing management services such as maintenance, training and governance advice to more than 40 independent co-ops, CDS has effectively given career wings to many more women across the UK.

“Because housing co-ops are naturally very local, they offer women the chance to get involved in a way they wouldn’t be able to do if they were far away,” she says. “Very often, women have never attended a business meeting and don’t know about agendas decision making or governance. Getting involved in their housing co-op gives them tremendous skills that can be used in most jobs.”

Apart from leading to decent work opportunities, housing co-ops offer an effective organisational means for women members to raise their living standards by accessing savings/credit facilities, health, housing/social services, education and training.

“We are particularly interested in encouraging people from ethnic minority groups or with disadvantages,” says Maureen. “We have a fully DDA-compliant office and our board members have included a former nun who joined us when she had nothing and said becoming involved in a co-op widened her life.”

Maureen spotted the benefits from the start. “It seemed to me that when I moved into the co-op it was a wonderful opportunity for those living in the community to control their environment without owning it,” she says. “I believe that you don’t have to own your house to have the right to manage it”.

“Some people think that because you’re a tenant you’re feckless. But tenants are like everyone else, only have less money. They still want a decent, well maintained home and are perfectly capable of taking part in the management of those homes.”

Co-ops are bastions of democracy, helping tenant members to feel secure in their homes while respecting the rules of the co-op, and the principles and values of the International Co-operative Alliance.

Maureen points out that tenants often join their local housing sub-committee, then realise they would like to join the board to access further training. “CDS provides a lot of training opportunities to new housing co-ops,” she says. “We recently had a series of sessions where we trained board members in the finer points of governance.”

Co-operatives also offer compassionate working practices. “Even when I was nursing my now late husband Bob, who had Alzheimer’s, CDS always provided someone to be with him while I was in session. We have a strong policy that if anyone with care needs someone to stay with their children during board meetings we pay for it.”

“Bob always said he wanted me to keep up with CDS so I did,” she adds. “It’s been a very big part of my life.”