The cooperative participates as a guest in the Special Commission on the Housing Crisis (HOUS) from where it has defended the political recognition and European funding of housing cooperatives.
Sostre Cívic participated this Monday in the Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU (HOUS) of the European Parliament , in Brussels. José Téllez , head of Communication of the cooperative, was invited as a speaker, at the proposal of the Valencian MEP Vicent Marzà , from the European Greens group, along with other European experts and representatives in the field of social, affordable and non-profit housing.
During his speech to the MEPs and representatives of the European Commission, Téllez presented cooperative housing in transfer of use as an emerging social housing sector that is growing throughout the State , but which has its main development hub in Catalonia, with 56% of the projects. Currently, in Catalonia there are 75 projects and more than 1,200 homes in transfer of use . Figures that are still modest, but which, when put into a temporal context, show that the sector has grown at an annual rate of 53% since 2016. In other words, in just over a decade, it already represents 3% of the public and social housing stock in Catalonia.
Sostre Cívic manages 45% of these projects and has more than 2,500 members , 15 co-housing developments (with 225 homes) and 13 projects under development, which will add 315 more homes. Téllez highlighted that one of the keys to this growth is the cooperative model that integrates several projects into a single organization , which allows knowledge to be accumulated, a specialized technical team to be consolidated and economies of scale to be generated.
The other essential lever that explains this growth, and which has been of main interest to the MEPs, has been the collaboration with public administrations , through instruments such as the transfer of public land by city councils, credit financing or different lines of subsidies for the promotion of subsidized housing.
As a final message, Sostre Cívic has demanded that the European Union place cooperative, community and non-profit housing at the center of its affordable housing strategy, with stronger political recognition, specific financing instruments and regulatory frameworks that facilitate its growth in the different member states. “Catalonia has been demonstrating for ten years that cooperative housing in transfer of use is a replicable and stable model. European policies need to move from recognition to direct investment,” Téllez declared.
The European Commission's response
In response to the intervention of Sostre Cívic, Matthew Baldwin , Director-General and Head of Housing at the European Commission , explicitly pointed to cooperatives and non-profit housing providers as a key model for ensuring affordable housing. He announced the follow-up of a pilot action to develop a social bond framework to facilitate the financing of these projects.
He also advocated a combination of favorable regulatory frameworks, support policies and financial incentives, and acknowledged barriers such as the lack of legal recognition of some community housing formulas. " We want to take advantage of everything that the social economy offers us to create opportunities for social and affordable housing for everyone, while contributing to the stabilization of housing prices," he stated in his conclusion of his return to the presentation by Sostre Cívic and the other experts.
Add new comment