Will residential co-ops grow here?

We need a new kind of tenure for a new kind of housing market | Left Foot Forward:
In Britain, MP Jonathan Reynolds is proposing that the government pass enabling acts that can lead to an increase in cooperative housing.

The Bill proposes to enshrine in English law the legal principle that the right of occupation of a dwelling can arise through membership of a housing co-operative which owns property rather than solely through the grant of a tenancy by a superior (feudal) landlord. To create a new form of tenure in the midst of a housing crisis may seem esoteric. Yes, Jonathan Reynolds’s co-operative housing (tenure) bill will overturn over 1,000 years of feudal land law history which has its roots in the Dark Ages from whence the only way to gain occupation rights was either as freeholder (of the Crown) or as tenant of a superior feudal landlord: a history which has led to the bi-polar approach to housing ownership and rental as the two only available tenures. This bi-polar tenure structure and the financial advantages in the past that accrued from individual home ownership – advantages that will not return in this world after the financial crisis – is a prime source of the thinking that home ownership is the tenure of choice and that rental is the tenure of the poor or of last resort that dominates UK housing markets. Jonathan Reynolds’s attempt to create co-operative housing tenure as a distinct new legal way of gaining rights to occupy a home is not just an esoteric legal proposition.

Having been a landlord (not by choice) for a total of 15 years, I claim some expertise in landlord-tenant laws but none in real-estate co-op laws. But that's what Google is for. Investopedia:

Co-ops are not considered real property. When you buy into a co-op, you become a shareholder in a corporation that owns the property. As a shareholder, you are entitled to exclusive use of a housing unit in the property. Costs To purchase shares in a co-op, each buyer takes out a "share loan" in lieu of a mortgage. These loans operate much like mortgages. In addition to the loan payments, which are made to the lender, co-op residents are responsible for paying a pro-rata share of the costs of running and maintaining the building. These costs are generally paid to the partnership via a monthly fee and are billed on an at-cost basis. Prices rise when the cost of goods and services go up.

You pay for your own utilities and insurance of your household goods. The number of shares of the corporation you buy is determined by the size of the dwelling unit, the larger the unit the more the shares.

Unlike in Britain, where MP Reynolds' proposal is intended to enable more affordable homes for middle and lower economic classes, co-op housing in America tends toward the higher end. One reason is that co-ops here may legally be much more restrictive on occupant screening than ordinary leasing or purchasing. While coops must abide by the non-discrimination terms of fair housing laws, they are able to restrict the scope of their target shareholders more tightly. For example, co-ops may require proof of net worth above a certain level or restrict holders to persons above a certain age, as a retirement co-op might do.

I think that co-ops might grow in years to come. They generally avoid requiring large down payments as buying a home does and also enable growth of equity unlike renting. But boy, do prospective residents have to conduct due diligence, just as if they were sinking an enormous percentage of their net worth into a company stock - because that is in fact what they are doing.