Owners who have a disused flat that is awaiting a small renovation, either some repair to the kitchen or the toilet, which 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 it at no cost to the owner of the home, in exchange for renting it out for social rent for at least six years.
It is the initiative promoted by the Sergi Foundation, an organization that for two decades has been working from Girona to offer housing to people in a situation of residential exclusion. It currently manages around 150 private flats, but the number is completely insufficient. “We can only help 10% of the people we serve”, emphasizes Lluís Puigdemont, director of the organization, which sets itself a modest goal from the start: to get 10 homes in a year.
A project, its promoters point out, in which everyone wins. The rehabilitation of the property will be carried out by the Garbet labor insertion cooperative, which specializes in rehabilitation, which serves people at risk of social exclusion. Lluís Puigdemont explains that the reforms are small, with amounts ranging between 2,000 and 12,000 euros. The intention is that they will be paid through social rent. The tenant will enjoy an affordable rent, according to his possibilities, and the owner will be subsidized part of the IBI and will get the flat back when the rental contract ends in better conditions. They will also process the energy efficiency certificate, you will have free multi-risk insurance and you will be guaranteed the monthly payment of the rent.
A situation, that of possible non-payments, that worries many owners who end up choosing to keep their flat closed, as recognized by the president of API de Girona, Joan Company, who collaborates with the initiative in disseminating the proposal among the its associates Maria Rosa Agustí attests to this, having already placed a property in Figueres at the service of the organization and is evaluating the option of placing a second one. “You save yourself a lot of headaches: even if I rented it directly, I would get more income, it doesn’t make up for it,” explains Agustí, who had a bad experience with a traditional rental. “He didn’t take care of the apartment and, in addition, he didn’t pay, and that means problems”, he points out. It is estimated that in 2021 there were 785 empty flats in Girona alone, according to municipal data.
The president of the Association of Neighbors of 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 occupied illegally . “Housing is a right and if it is not respected, it ends up leading to violence and bad living in the neighborhood,” he explains. “The issue does not require a police solution, but a political one”, he says.
The candidates are people who live alone, victims of male 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 Sergi Foundation that the aim is to increase the minuscule 1.5% that Catalonia currently allocates to the social rental park and to get closer and closer to the European average, in which 15% of homes have this use .
