The Development Bank of the Council of Europe grants the largest European funding ever granted to a cooperative to build more than 350 cooperative homes, all on municipal public land and with support from the Generalitat

The new homes will offer stability to members with affordable quotas and will be built in high energy efficiency buildings

Sostre Cívic we lead the expansion of cooperative housing in Catalonia with the management of a stock of more than 550 homes

This morning, at Bloc4BCN in the Sants neighborhood, Sostre Cívic has announced the obtaining of the largest European financing granted to a Catalan cooperative to date: a credit of 31 million euros from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe (CEB). The event, called by the cooperative, was attended by Maria Sigüenza country manager of the CEB in Spain, and various political positions in town councils and the Generalitat, despite last-minute absences, such as that of the minister Silvia Paneque and the mayor of Lleida Felix Larrosa, due to the management and mobility problems caused by the DANA storm. Yes, the housing councilors of the town councils that give the land for the projects of the first phase of investment, and representatives of the departments of work, social economy and housing of the Generalitat, in addition to the First Secretary of the Parliament, attended deputy Glòria Freixa.

This financing will allow construction more than 350 new cooperative homes in right of use. For us, this project is a first step to achieve the leap of scale that will mean managing, in the next two years, a park of more than 550 homes, within the 1.200 cooperative homes that currently exist in Catalonia. An essential response, based on cooperativeism and with an important international endorsement, to the need for affordable housing that exists in Catalonia.

Since we do not have a profit motive, the partners who come to live in the new projects will do so at cost price. Each community will have to contribute collectively between 8% and 12% of the total cost of the promotion in the form of social capital, returnable in the event that a partner decides to leave the project. The cooperative will maintain ownership of the homes, and the members will enjoy one right of permanent use with monthly installments between 10% and 40% below the market.

All homes will be built following high energy efficiency criteria and will include shared spaces and services to encourage community life. With an A energy certification, the buildings will have photovoltaic panels for self-production of energy, gray water recycling systems, monitoring of energy consumption and a shared telecommunications network. David Guàrdia, co-coordinator of Sostre Cívic, highlighted the uniqueness of each project: "The Lleida and Manresa projects will be built with industrialized systems to reduce time and costs, minimizing the environmental impact and increasing the quality of the finishes; those in Granollers and Vilafranca del Penedès will be built with wood and will have shared electric mobility vehicles”. He also stressed that the projects in Barcelona will have an innovative social impact: the Sant Andreu building will be inclusive, with places reserved for people with intellectual disabilities, and the Sarrià project, 'Can 70', will be the first cooperative housing exclusively for the elderly, with shared services for the care of the elderly.

Public support to promote the 'Viennese model' in Catalonia

The projects financed, in a first phase, will be seven in total and will be located on public land ceded by the town councils of Barcelona, ​​Lleida, Manresa, Granollers and Vilafranca del Penedès, with the co-financing by the Generalitat de Catalunya. In addition, most of the promotions will have NextGenerationEU funds managed by the Generalitat, intended for the construction of social rental housing in energy efficient buildings. Later, projects will be financed that will mean more than 100 new homes, also on municipal land still to be decided. This project lays the foundation stone of a cooperative housing model that aims to replicate the success of European cities such as Vienna or the Netherlands and Denmark, where more than 25% of the housing stock is managed by cooperatives or non-profit entities , with land and public support.

To demonstrate this collaboration, Lídia Guillén, Secretary of Housing of the Government of the Generalitat, intervened, who greeted "the initiative of the councils that have opted for the right of use model, which goes beyond building a house and serves to transform the whole of society where social rights and work are also involved". 

In turn, Maria Sigüenza, head of the CEB country, emphasized that "we are proud to support this project as investing in affordable housing aligns with the priorities of our Strategic Framework 2023-2027. Through this loan, our aim is to contribute to a future in which all people have access to a safe and affordable place to live, especially those who are socially and economically vulnerable, including people with reduced mobility or disabilities intellectuals". The CEB is a multilateral development bank whose sole mission is to promote social cohesion in its 43 member states throughout Europe. The CEB finances investments in social sectors, including education, health and affordable housing, with a focus on the needs of vulnerable people.

Carlos Alcoba, president of Sostre Cívic, has defended the capacity and solvency of cooperatives to guarantee the right to housing, promoted and managed by the members themselves in a democratic way: "we guarantee that these homes will remain forever off the speculative market, and any future surpluses we can obtain will be reinvested in more homes". With these words, he has called on the administrations to continue to bet on non-speculative, non-profit and community management models to expand the protected social housing stock, moving towards European standards.

All the details of the financed projects can be seen during the month of November an exhibition at Bloc4BCN in Can Batlló.