We recover a building until now disused and owned by a financial institution to provide access to decent and affordable housing

La Mola is a project of 8 homes between 30 and 57 m² in the neighborhood of Ca N'Anglada

This morning representatives of the town council of Terrassa and the cooperative Sostre Cívic have presented La Mola, a new cooperative housing project in the municipality: a newly built building, disused and until then owned by a financial institution, which has been rehabilitated to offer stable housing over time at cost price. 

The presentation to the media was held at the Rehabilitation Office, and ended with a visit to the project building, 1 minute's walk away (c. Mare de Déu dels Socors, 77). It is a property built in 2015 and just renovated that consists of 8 cooperative homes between 30 and 57 m² (1 or 2 rooms) under a right of use regime and qualified for official protection. In addition, with the rehabilitation, the building has been equipped with facilities and community elements that will allow users to make use of self-produced renewable energy and will contribute to a lower cost of individual consumption.

During the press conference, Luisa Melgares, Councilor for Housing and Rehabilitation of the Terrassa town hall has affirmed that "the cooperative housing in right of use is a pioneer model in our locality, even though it already has a long history in other municipalities. We must move towards alternatives like this to be able to guarantee access to housing for everyone". 

The presentation of the project was also attended by Noel Duque, Deputy Mayor of the Social Rights area; i Joseph Furn, Councilor for Social Economy and Innovation. In addition, members of the PAH Terrace and from The roof, social entities of the municipality linked to the right to housing, wanted to participate in today's event to give their support to the new project of La Mola. 

Recover disused assets to guarantee the right to housing 

The homes will be managed under the cooperative housing model in right of use: a model straddling ownership and rental, in which the ownership of the property belongs to the cooperative and the neighbors who are partners participate and enjoy it of one right of indefinite use, transferable and at a stable price. In the case of the Terrassa project, the fees for the use of the homes are approximately between €500 and €595, and members must make a partially refundable initial contribution of a maximum of €3.500. 

In addition, 2 of the homes will be managed by the Emergency Committee of the Generalitat and the Terrassa City Council and will be assigned to the profiles processed by the Social Services department. It is the third project of this type, combining cooperative housing and social services, that exists in Catalonia, after the experiences of Palafrugell and Valls. In this sense, the project coordinator and technician of the cooperative Sostre Cívic, Mandi Domingo, explained that promoting these agreements " we recover private and already built heritage that is in disuse to return housing to its social function from a collective management, with a public and non-speculative vocation".

The total budget for the promotion, including acquisition and rehabilitation costs, was €600.000, financed entirely with a mortgage loan from the Catalan Institute of Finance of the Generalitat of Catalonia.

Calendar and additions

Today it was presented campaign to find interested people, who are expected to be able to move into the building between the month of març and April For all homes, users must comply official protection requirements and they must be partners of Sostre Cívic. 

The registration period for the project opens from today February 2 to February 28, and during the campaign there will be three information sessions and two visits to the building open to all interested people:

• Tuesday 07/02 | 17:30 p.m. Informative talk + visit to the building.
• Tuesday 14/02 | 17:30 p.m. Online briefing (pre-registration required). 
• Tuesday 21/02 | 17:30 p.m. Informative talk + visit to the building.

For more information, you can consult the project page, where you will also find the registration form, in this link.