Co-housing Professionals as ‘Middle-Agents’: Perspectives from the UK, USA and the Netherlands MELISSA FERNANDEZ ARRIGOITIA and LIDEWIJ TUMMERS Keywords: co-housing; professionals; consultants; institutionalisation; middle agents Abstract This article explores the role of co-housing professionals in three countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the United States) where the relevance of this form of collaborative dwelling has grown. Co-housing initiators everywhere have to hire external technical consultants like technical financial and legal advisers and traditional project managers. These ‘experts’ or ‘professionals’ may, however, be insufficiently equipped to deal with the development particularities of co-housing which require the ability to move between and translate knowledge(s) of different kinds. In response to this reality, a new cadre of co-housing specialists such as group- facilitators, process-management and legal coop-specialists is emerging, but the specificity and implications of their roles has gone largely unstudied. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork across the three countries, we explore the roles and dynamics, as well as the paradoxes faced by this varied professional sector. We argue that as ‘middle agents’ that must negotiate their way between niche and mainstream housing landscapes, co-housing professionalisation is taking place in a way that can potentially transform both grassroots and mainstream housing provision. Based on this, the conclusions recommend a shift in higher education and specialist training.