In this episode Everything Co-op spotlights UHAB’s upcoming National Incubator for Permanently Affordable Co-op Housing, launching in February 2026. Host conversations feature Peter Dean, Director of National Co-op Community Services; UHAB Senior Fellow Andy Reicher; and former incubator participants Nneka Onwuzurike and Alexander Kolokotronis. Together, they discuss how UHAB’s proven model—responsible for more than 1,300 limited-equity housing cooperatives and 30,000 permanently affordable homes in New York City—can be replicated nationwide. The February incubator will share UHAB’s decades of expertise in cooperative housing development and stewardship, supporting communities across the country in building and sustaining permanently affordable, resident-controlled housing.
Peter Dean Peter Dean is Director of UHAB National, where he leads efforts to share UHAB’s cooperative housing expertise nationwide in order to support and expand permanently affordable co-op housing. He provides technical assistance, training, and leadership for cooperative housing incubators, supporting cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, and Nashville. Peter holds an MBA from Duke University and has held senior roles at the Cooperative Housing Foundation and Cooperative Services, Inc. A longtime affordable housing leader, he currently serves as Treasurer of the Grounded Solutions Network and lives in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Andrew Reicher served for more than 40 years as Executive Director of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board (UHAB) and now serves as a Senior Advisor with UHAB National. During his tenure, UHAB grew to support more than 1,300 tenant-run cooperatives in 1,600 buildings, primarily in New York City, while expanding beyond housing co-ops to assist tenant associations confronting gentrification and predatory equity. Andy began his career as a VISTA volunteer in 1974 and later chaired City Futures/Center for an Urban Future for over 30 years. He was inducted into the Co-op Hall of Fame in 2021 and received the Bowdoin College Common Good Award (1997) and NAHC’s Jerry Voorhis Award (2003).
Nneka Onwuzurike is the Founder and Executive Director of The Community WEB and a leader in equitable community and economic development. She previously served nearly five years in the Chicago Mayor’s Office as First Deputy for Business and Neighborhood Development, where she advanced housing and business initiatives, helped pass a $1.25 billion housing and economic development bond, streamlined approvals, and co-designed a $15 million Community Wealth Building pilot.
Alexander Kolokotronis is Director of the Naugatuck Valley Project and its community land trust, where he supports tenant organizing and stewards limited-equity housing cooperatives in Waterbury. He holds a PhD from Yale University focused on cooperatives and unions, previously worked with the Connecticut AFL-CIO, and co-led the Right to Counsel Coalition that secured eviction defense for tenants statewide.
Please see the message regarding UHAB’s upcoming cohort of its National Incubator for Permanently Affordable Co-op Housing below:
UHAB is excited to announce a new cohort of our National Incubator for Permanently Affordable Co-op Housing (PACH), that will start in mid-February. Our goal with our incubators is to share UHAB’s expertise in limited-equity housing cooperative (LEC) development and stewardship with communities around the country and other PACH models. Over the past 50 years UHAB has helped develop over 1,300 permanently affordable housing co-ops that provide homes to over 30,000 households in NYC.