The largest cooperative housing block in the country is now under construction in Barcelona

BarcelonaAn opaque, metallic gray fence stretches for about 50 meters along the sidewalk in the middle of Sant Andreu del Palomar. On a sunny weekday morning, someone might approach and hear construction work in its foundation phase. But soon, attention shifts from hearing to sight, and the clatter of machinery is drowned out by a monstrous crane, seemingly rising from nowhere. To follow the crane's arm with your eyes, you need to shield them from the glare, but you don't have to look too far to realize this is no ordinary construction project. "This project isn't a business, because housing is a right," reads a sign, also gray, atop the fence.

This is the largest cooperative housing project ever undertaken in Spain. And construction officially begins this Saturday. Behind it all is Sostre Cívico, the housing cooperative with the highest rate of transfer of use in Catalonia, leading a booming sector: the construction of non-profit, community-owned housing. Currently, the association manages 48% of the projects of this type in the country and has more than 2,100 members who support a model that lies somewhere between public housing—a model currently gaining popularity among government agencies to address the housing shortage—and private housing, which has long clashed with it. And it won't be for rent, nor for purchase.

An expanding model

In fact, this project, named Ca l'Ordit, has many unique features. For one, it's being built on public land owned by the Barcelona City Council, which will lease it to Sostre Cívic for 99 years. Within two years, up to 62 families will move into this new ten-story development with permanent contracts. They will all be co-owners of the building for the duration of the cooperative's 90-year lease. The building will never be sold on the private market and, therefore, cannot be used for speculation. Furthermore, the development is being carried out on a non-profit basis, with a fair margin to cover the cooperative's operating costs. It will add to the 67 cooperative housing units currently in use or under construction throughout Catalonia, bringing the total to 1,204 units. But how does this booming model actually work?

"The first thing you need to do is sign up, become a member of the cooperative. You pay an entrance fee—in the case of Techo Cívico, it's 100 euros—and you pay quarterly dues—generally 30 or 40 euros—and from then on you can apply for a home," Téllez explains. Currently, this cooperative has 500 members who already live in homes, and the rest are on the waiting list. "Of those who don't yet have a home, about 1,600 members, not all of them want to live in Barcelona. For example, we currently have a vacancy in Manresa: if you become a member now, I'll give you the keys," Téllez explains. The Ca l'Ordit project is currently in the concrete pouring phase, which includes all underground utilities such as sanitation, rainwater drainage, and grounding systems, as well as an innovative hydraulic waste collection system—a type of selective collection that will send residents' waste to the appropriate facility. The building, whose structure will soon begin to rise, will have 600 square meters of common areas, including a communal laundry room, a communal kitchen (although all apartments will already be equipped with a kitchen), workspaces, and multipurpose rooms for celebrations or community gatherings. It will also have bicycle parking. The 62 apartments will range from 35 to 94 square meters, with a kind of interior balcony, and nine of them will be adapted for people with intellectual disabilities. "This represents a significant leap forward for the cooperative and the sector because it more than doubles the size of the largest buildings built under this model to date, which have around thirty apartments," says Téllez.

Where does the money come from?

The financing for this project comes primarily from a loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank, which lent Techo Cívico €31 million to build up to 350 new homes, the largest European loan ever granted to a cooperative. "We are the only cooperative with several projects to achieve economies of scale, and this also allows us to access European funding," explains Téllez. This loan will cover part of the €15 million it costs the cooperative to build the building; around €2 million will come from the Next Generation EU fund, and approximately 8% of the capital that the families must advance will be covered. "Residents will pay monthly fees to amortize the loan and maintain common services. These will be between €600 and €800 per month per home," explains Téllez. All the homes will have an A energy rating, while the average in Catalonia is 2.38%, and a significant portion of the energy will be generated through self-consumption. This monthly contribution can decrease as the loan is paid off or increase if the community decides to carry out further renovations. In the Sant Andreu neighborhood, where the blog will be built, the average price of a typical rental contract is currently around 900 euros. If residents leave before the 99-year mark, they recover their initial investment, which in this case can range between 15,000 and 20,000 euros. However, once the entire operating period has elapsed, the entire building will revert to the City Council. The difference between this model and a private rental property is that all residents are co-owners, the contract lasts for decades, and they participate in the decision-making process regarding the building's construction and subsequent management.