Owners who have a disused apartment that is waiting for a small reform, be it some repair in the kitchen or bathroom, that requires a change of windows or electrical installation or a simple coat of paint, can give them a second life. A social entity will rehabilitate the home at no cost to the owner, in exchange for using it for social rental for at least six years.
It is the initiative promoted by the Sergi Foundation, an entity that has been working from Girona for two decades to offer housing to people in situations of residential exclusion. It currently manages around 150 private apartments, but the figure is completely insufficient. “We can only help 10% of the people we serve”, emphasizes Lluís Puigdemont, director of the entity, who sets a modest goal from the outset: to get 10 homes in one year.
A project, its promoters point out, in which everyone will win. The rehabilitation of the property will be carried out by the Garbet labor insertion cooperative, specialized in rehabilitations, which serves people at risk of social exclusion. Lluís Puigdemont explains that the reforms are small, the amount of which ranges between 2,000 and 12,000 euros. The intention is that they are paid through social rent. The tenant will enjoy an affordable rent, according to his and the owner's possibilities, part of the IBI will be discounted and he will recover the apartment at the end of the rental in a better state than he had left it. The energy efficiency certificate will also be processed, you will have free multi-risk insurance and you will be guaranteed the monthly rental charge.
A situation, that of possible non-payments, which worries many owners who end up choosing to keep their apartment closed, according to the president of Girona's API, Joan Company, who collaborates with the initiative in disseminating the proposal among its associates. Attest to this is Maria Rosa Agustí, who has placed a property in Figueres at the service of the entity and is evaluating the option of a second. "You save a lot of headaches: although if I rented it directly I would get more revenue, it doesn't compensate me," explains Agustí, who had a bad experience with a traditional rental. "I didn't take care of the apartment and also I didn't pay and that means problems," she says. It is estimated that in 2021 there were some 785 empty flats in Girona alone, according to municipal data.
It can also be a stimulus for neighborhoods where occupations are common. The president of the Associació de Veïns de Santa Eugènia, Reinald Roca, explains that in that area the lack of social rental housing “is a serious problem” that affects neighborhood coexistence, since many properties end up being illegally occupied. “Housing is a right and if it is not respected it ends up leading to violence and a poor life in the neighborhood,” he explains. "The issue does not require a police solution, but a political one," he says.
Candidates are people who live alone, victims of sexist violence or families, who are referred by the City Council's social services. The radius of action is Girona and the neighboring municipalities of Salt and Sarrià de Ter, but in the immediate future it is not ruled out that it can be extrapolated to other municipalities in the province. They explain from the Fundació Sergi that the objective is to increase the tiny 1.5% that Catalonia currently allocates to social rental stock and get closer and closer to the European average, where 15% of homes have that use.
