The first co-operative housing for the elderly in Catalonia guarantees its viability with turnkey financing from Fiare Banca Ètica and Caixa Engineers

Our project Walden XXI takes a decisive step with the formalization of a co-financing of 6 million euros with Fiare Banca Ètica i Caixa Engineers. This agreement will boost the renovation works of the old hotel Jecsalis, in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, to create 31 cooperative homes in right of use and 800 m² of community spaces. The works, which started in June 2024, will end in 2026.

This pioneering project is aimed at people between 55 and 70 years old who are looking for a self-managed, sustainable coexistence away from real estate speculation. Common spaces will include multipurpose rooms, kitchen and dining room, library, laundry, interior garden and workshops to encourage coexistence and mutual support. Walden XXI will become the first cooperative co-housing specifically for the elderly in Catalonia. This model offers a sustainable and affordable alternative to the traditional real estate market, while promoting solidarity and community management.

Alliances for fair housing

Fiare Banca Ètica, a cooperative entity committed to the values ​​of the social and solidarity economy and Caixa Engineers, a cooperative entity of financial services and insurers, have decided to collaborate in the financing of this project, strengthening the economic viability of the project and highlighting the importance of alliances between institutions that share a common vision on the right to housing and the quality of life of the elderly. This co-financing has also been possible thanks to a guarantee of 300.000 euros from the Seira Foundation, which works to strengthen access to financing for cooperative projects.

Fiare Banca Ètica already has a long track record of financing cooperative housing projects in right of use. Their support has been key to driving pioneering projects for the com model La Balma o Cirerers, in Barcelona, ​​or Cal Carner (Castellar del Vallès, Vallès Occidental). For Caixa Enginyers, despite being the first project of this nature that they finance, it is an initiative fully aligned with the cooperative model of the entity and with its desire to generate shared social benefit through finance.

With the work already started and with the financing secured, WALDEN XXI expects to complete the rehabilitation in 2026. The first partners will be able to live there from the autumn. It will thus be the first specific cooperative housing for the elderly in the whole of Catalonia to be put into operation.

Financing, key to promoting cooperative housing

This financing agreement is part of a wider context of promoting co-operative housing, driven by the growing commitment of public banking and ethical finance. We recently announced the acquisition of a credit of 31 million euros from the Development Bank of the Council of Europe (CEB), a fact that represents unprecedented transnational support for the cooperative housing model in right of use in Catalonia.

This support is reinforced by the commitment of ethical and cooperative banking, with entities such as Fiare Banca Ètica and Caixa Enginyers, which prioritize projects unrelated to real estate speculation and aligned with the values ​​of the social and solidarity economy. According to the last 2023 Ethical Finance Barometer, these entities have allocated one out of every four euros lent to non-speculative housing projects, financing more than 2.400 initiatives, including cooperatives, social housing and sustainable construction. This collaboration consolidates WALDEN XXI and other projects as a real alternative to guarantee fair and sustainable housing.