Sostre Cívic runs cohousing in Catalonia on the cession-of-use / right-to-use model (cessió d’ús): collective ownership (neither private nor public), democratic management, non-profit, with members holding a durable right to use rather than title. Legally a cooperative-by-projects — each project has separate financial management and funding. Same cost-rent logic as the Swiss Wohnbaugenossenschaft and German Syndikat; the model cites Denmark, Quebec, Uruguay and Switzerland as inspirations.
Access to land
- Grant of use of public land via surface rights (dret de superfície), typically a 75-year term — the cooperative gets temporary property, the public body keeps the land.
- Buying private land where public support is insufficient, using the co-op’s right of first refusal / pre-emption.
- Status as a recognised public-utility association unlocks public land-grant criteria and a public guarantee; the state-owned Catalan Finance Institute (ICF) provides funding.
Capital stack (member money + ethical finance)
Members put in a refundable initial investment plus monthly use fees that recover acquisition + maintenance + operating cost (not market rent). External capital comes only from ethical-finance entities — traditional banks refuse; instruments seen include personal guarantees (~150,000€), variable loans at ~1+Euribor (~2.75%), and participatory bonds (500€ each, ~2%/yr, 25-year term, fixed 2%).
Worked figures from the case projects (2022 — volatile):
- La Balma (first 100% co-op new build): total 3,180,000€ = ~20% internal capital + ~80% external (main ethical loan ~71.7%, subordinated tranche ~7.9%). Initial investment 29,000–40,000€ refundable; monthly fee 500–780€.
- A larger project: total 7,359,723€ = ~18% internal (incl. ~4% grants/donations) + ~82% external. Initial investment ~22,500€ avg; monthly fee ~490€ avg.
- A smaller one (Palafrugell): initial investment 3,000–5,500€; monthly fee 380–600€.
Open question: figures are from the 2022 urbamonde deck. Confirm current ICF terms, ethical-finance lenders (Coop57 / Fiare are the recognised Catalan players, unnamed in the deck) and per-project stacks against a live Sostre Cívic source before quoting.
Related
- swiss-cooperative-financing — explicitly cited inspiration; shared cost-rent + subordinated-tranche structure
- norway-cooperative-financing — another non-profit co-op finance system
- syndikat-direktkredit — German subordinated Direktkredite, the closest analogue to the ethical-finance / participatory-bond tranche here