Three entrepreneurs have created Kloosiv, a social inclusion housing cooperative to fight against speculation and unwanted loneliness.
They have been working for years and this 2024 they will implement it in Ripollès with the participation of three municipalities (Sant Joan de les Abadesses, Campdevànol and Ripoll).
It is an ambitious project that combines technology and social intervention tools to provide rental housing and accompany those people who have problems finding a place to live.
The tool allows you to have real data on supply and demand and manage it on a case-by-case basis. "We will demonstrate that innovative projects can also be promoted in rural areas and extended to all of Catalonia," explains Laura Ayala, one of the co-founders.
An inclusive and healthy home is one of the slogans that can be read on the website of this cooperative born from the hand of two people from Ripolla -Laura Ayala and Carles Gómez- and a man from Barcelona -Gerard Casaus-.
The entire project pivots around three concepts: housing, health and inclusion. After years of trial and error, they have decided to confront the current real estate system and offer a social alternative. "The market has always gone ahead, but a more powerful alternative is necessary from the social sector and for city councils and entities to be able to serve people," says Ayala.
They are committed to developing it in a rural environment, Ripollès, to demonstrate that you can innovate without being in a big city and, above all, because it is where there are fewer tools and human resources to manage an issue as complex as housing. "The opportunities are there and so are the needs," remarks the co-founder.
The project, with headquarters in Campdevànol and office in Barcelona (Bloc4), is one of the ten selected by the Hub for Social and Health Innovation (HISS) of the Generalitat.
Its promoters argue that for too many years there has been a gap in the care of people who cannot find housing and they make the following comparison with the current health system. "If you feel bad, you go to the CAP and they can see you with a specialist, but with housing this doesn't happen," says Carles Gómez. What they want with this project is to provide a tool and a methodology that allows municipalities and social services to provide personalized solutions to each particular case and, in turn, "give confidence to owners" so that they make their empty homes available.
The technological platform allows data to be processed and combined with indicators of health, physical and emotional well-being to see "how the quality of life" of users improves. And one of the differentiating features is that they accompany owners and tenants throughout the entire process since they directly manage the homes and monitor them.
Among the first users is Griselda, a 68-year-old woman who for a few months has been sharing a flat with a neighbor from Girona who has Alzheimer's and whom "she has already taken a liking to because she is very well."
Due to his personal situation, he has always had to share a flat and the experiences until now had been "very bad." "It's difficult to share with more people," she says, because there are often scams to try to get the most out of the rentals.
One of the aspects that he values most is that if there is any day-to-day incident, the cooperative will help him. "They care and it shows, these are things that are being lost nowadays; people are very selfish." For this reason, she says, she is "very grateful" because she has improved her quality of life and denounces what for her is a great injustice: "The people who are looking for a room seem not to be the same as the rest of the people, who have a house and they are very comfortable and that touches me a lot.
From Kloosiv, they point out that they can respond to all types of profiles, from older people, divorced people, young people who want to emancipate themselves or migrated people, among others.
In Ripoll, for example, they have the case of an elderly woman who has agreed to rent two rooms after seeing that this formula suited her and "broke fears."
"He started with one room and now he has two rented, helping two people," Ayala highlights, saying that it is a great satisfaction to see how bonds are created. The cooperative is in charge of managing the contracts, which are long-term and at sustainable and agreed prices, based on the Generalitat price index and with flexibility for each case.
