Ideas, strategies and projects that give rise to pilot projects. They tackle the challenges raised by the stakeholders involved and which are found in particular places in Barcelona or Medellín.
Background
1) The reclaiming of Can Batlló, a former manufacturing complex, by local residents, who have organised and are transforming disused spaces to meet their needs for amenities, housing and economic activities. 2) The various co-operatives and social-economy organisations that exist in Barcelona and the Sants neighbourhood. 3) The spread of shared-ownership housing in recent years and the interest in it shown by various stakeholders in the co-operative and social-economy movement: the Andel model in Denmark and FUCVAM in Uruguay. 4) The stagnation of the property market is providing opportunities for new stakeholders capable of facilitating access to housing.
Main characteristics
This is a bottom-up initiative set in motion by people associated with the Can Batlló urban movement—residents, organisations and co-operatives in the neighbourhood—who have come together to form the La Borda co-operative and are promoting affordable housing through a non-speculative shared-ownership scheme involving the granting of the usage of a home. Ownership of the property is always collective and co-op members have the right to use one of the homes indefinitely by paying an initial deposit and an affordable monthly payment. The provision of communal spaces and shared services makes community life and the optimisation of utilities possible. The architectural design, as well as the various tasks involved in implementing it, is a collective endeavour, thereby empowering everyone taking part in the initiative.
The project was launched in May 2012. The co-op now has around 60 members in 32 shared-housing units. Barcelona City Council supports the initiative by granting the right to use the land—the ownership of which remains in public hands—and social-economy credit unions have also participated in the financing.
Replicability
The conditions today are ripe for the emergence of new projects led by not-for-profit organisations linked to the social-economy and neighbourhoods. To maximise on this, there is a need for public-sector support and new financing mechanisms, as well as bodies that advocate alternative, non-speculative approaches to providing access to housing.
