Crowdfunding and public interest: Cal Paler Nou starts with strong social and public involvement

The partners of Cal Paler Nou they address a letter to the future as a cry for the right to housing

Yesterday, Sunday, May 26, 2024, we gave the symbolic start to the works of the first cooperative housing project in right of use and non-profit in Cardedeu. The building, known as Cal Paler Nou, is driven by thirty members of Sostre Cívic of the municipality and surroundings. The project will have 39 homes, 20 of which will be Official Protection, and 20% of the surface will be dedicated to community spaces.

We acquired the plot in 2018 through an innovative micro-patronage campaign, issuing participative titles of €500 with a remuneration of 2% per annum. In just 20 days we managed to raise the €450.000 needed to free it from the private and speculative market, placing it in cooperative hands. We still have titles available! If you want to purchase one, you can do it here.

This is the first large-scale cooperative housing development to be built on private land, a strategic bet for us, Sostre Cívic. The success of this project will establish the basis for replicating the initiative in other places, with the aim of reclaiming land and placing it in the hands of the social and solidarity economy.

During the opening ceremony, we buried a letter addressed to the future residents, instead of the traditional 'first stone'. "We write this testimony towards the future - it will seem amazing to you, but when Sostre Cívic we built this house housing was not a guaranteed right. Land owners, banks, investment funds... denied this right, turning housing into an object for speculation”, said the letter that one of the members read aloud. "This house is part of this struggle, of the collective desire to earn a decent life in a habitable world".

Public interest and support

The excitement of the partners reflects their perseverance during these six years of self-managed work in the participative design of the building and in obtaining the financing. The mayor of Cardedeu, Joseph Quesada, he recalled that the City Council has declared the work of Cal Paler Nou of special interest and municipal utility, allowing tax exceptions and providing a subsidy of €40.000 to facilitate the viability of the project.

The Generalitat de Catalunya, represented by the acting Secretary of Housing, Marina Berasategui, and the director general of Social Economy, Julius Sylvester, also attended and showed their support for the cooperative promotion. The Generalitat has also demonstrated the public interest in the project with subsidies totaling more than €700.000 and the funding commitment from the Catalan Finance Institute to close the operation, valued at €6.705.000.

A sustainable and 100% cooperative building

Cal Paler Nou implements the best practices in energy efficiency and sustainability, with the aim of achieving zero CO₂ emissions. It will be an Energy A rating building, with an energy consumption of 11 kWh/m² per year and with emissions of only 2,25 KgCO2/m² per year, well above the average of A certifications in Catalonia.

The construction is in charge of La Constructiva, the first non-profit service cooperative focused on the construction of cooperative housing in the right of use. Driven by Sostre Cívic in 2018, with the aim of being able to control 100% of our developments with our values, it has already successfully managed the construction of other buildings such as La Balma i Cirerers in Barcelona, Clau Mestra in Sant Cugat, i La Xicoira in Olesa de Montserrat. The works of Cal Paler Nou they will last for two years and the partners expect to move in in mid-2026.

This project is a letter to the future, a cry against speculation and a firm step towards a fairer and more sustainable housing model.