It was supposed to be the first so-called Valencian cohousing project on public land, but right now it is just a bunch of plans waiting to be activated. The “Ágora” project, promoted by Vida Sostenible Cohousing, won a public competition from the Valencian Housing and Land Entity (Evha) in 2020, but is still on pause. It was to be a complex of 18 homes and a common building for the implementation of a collaborative housing model under a transfer of use regime on public land located in the Rabasa neighborhood of Alicante, but the subsidy obtained, of two million euros, is paralyzed today.
It is explained by Prudencio López, director of the promoting platform, who explains that after the resolution, “understandably the Valencian Institute of Finance, which was supposed to instrumentalize the aid, focused on companies, due to everything that had happened with the pandemic, and our project is stopped,” explains López.
The project for the implementation of a collaborative housing model would operate under a transfer of use regime on public land. Now, aware of this administrative pause for four years, the platform has promoted the School of Living Cohousing Communities in Rental and Assignment in use, with the initial push of 17 locations.
Six of them are in the Valencian Community, activated and currently learning to create their coexistence framework and the bases of their projects with a view to being part of a future cohousing. They explore rental options with developers who are interested in this modality that is already contemplated in the State Plan for access to Housing 2022-2025.
With the change of government in the Generalitat they will activate the claim again, knowing more about the interest of the current government in promoting cohousing as another alternative in the housing market. The Department of Social Services, Equality and Housing, headed by Vice President Susana Camarero, has begun the procedure for preparing the order for the approval of the regulatory bases and the call for aid for the creation of this type of residential units, again construction or rehabilitated.
The promoters of these actions may receive up to 75% of the investment, 630 euros per square meter or 75,000 euros per residential unit, between aid from the Ministry and those from the Generalitat Valenciana. The maximum total amount of this aid for 2024 will be 6,540,000 euros, of which 4,360,000 euros correspond to the contribution of the Ministry of Housing and 2,180,000 euros to the Generalitat Valenciana.
And in addition to public intentions, the market is also interested in this type of housing, such as the Alicante developer Goya Real Estate. The company is the new owner of the cohousing previously called Forum Mare Nostrum, a senior living located in Alfàs del Pi, Alicante. Equipped with 233 homes and a large central building, its nearly 300 residents have a medical service, restaurant, hairdresser and rooms where they can practice all kinds of activities, from singing classes to aquagym or Pilates classes.
The center welcomes residents of very different nationalities, since Alfàs del Pi is a town with residents from more than 90 countries. A destination where many European seniors choose to retire. The company explains that it is a concept “little rooted in Spain” due to the existing tradition of ownership, since the rental of the home is for 20 years, extendable for 10 more. “Here, people over 65 take control of their lives and can continue living surrounded by people from whom they can continue to get rich,” they explain. A privileged retirement, since the average cost of housing is around 200,000 euros, a figure that is not within everyone’s reach.
The second phase of the center, now called The Comm, will have 268 more units, in which the developer will incorporate home automation to make the lives of its tenants easier. It will be a “sensitive house”, equipped with technology to detect situations such as falls, domestic accidents in real time and quickly notify if necessary.
And this is not the only initiative, as this is joined by other initiatives in semi-urban environments with high purchasing power such as Godella-Campolivar, in Valencia, where the development of more than 100 units of Las Arcadias is underway, a group that already has projects in Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona or Madrid.
In total, and according to the real estate consultancy CBRE, the Valencian Community currently has a total of 1,500 units of the so-called senior housing (cohousing for seniors) in a total of 11 properties and they point out that new groups are appearing that are already buying land or buildings to reconvert in the territory. “They are even in the phase of structuring their platforms together with new operators to develop projects throughout the Valencian Community,” the firm explains.
