Visit to CALICO Saturday 21 September 2024

[MariaAM]

Dear @reeflings just wanted to share with you this visit to CALICO next Saturday 21, a co-housing in Forest. Some units are managed by 1 asbl who offer them to single mothers and 1 asbl who’s looking for intergenerational (I hope this is a word in English) approach, It is very interesting. It is a project of the community land trust. I don’t think I can go, unfortunately.

https://www.amazone.be/events/journees-feministes-feministische-dagen/

[Odile]

I wanted to go but it’s already sold out…

[Sarah]

Oh no that’s a shame :-/
Might still be interesting to reach out?
Maybe an interesting point could be to work out how they financed their inclusive units?? @reef-inclusion ?

[MariaAM]

I had read on their website the following

Le CLTB, actif depuis 2012 dans la production de logements antispéculatifs et abordables à destination des ménages les plus modestes, gère un habitat ainsi que l’opération immobilière. Le principe ? Une fondation d’utilité publique a acheté le terrain sur lequel l’immeuble a été construit puis l’a retiré du marché foncier afin de prévenir toute spéculation. La propriété du terrain est séparée de celle du bâti, permettant à des ménages à faibles revenus d’acheter un logement à un prix plus bas que celui du marché et le prix des logements reste toujours abordable pour les générations suivantes, grâce à un prix plafond lors de la revente. Parmi les 34 logements du Calico, 14 ont été réservés à de tels ménages, qui se sont inscrits au préalable sur une liste d’attente gérée par le CLTB.

From info in their website, I had concluded that, because the price of the units was 40% lower than the market price, the asbls themselves had bought the units they manage, but it may be wrong.

[MariaAM]

Hello again,
Richard had actually booked a ticket and I could visit Calico

Here are some notes:

• The owner of the apartments managed by the asbl Pass-ages and Angela D. are two cooperatives: Cooperative Village and Cooperative Fair Grounds respectively. Angela D, the asbl itself, is also looking to become an owner and could be interested in funding inclusive units (mostly for full time single moms).
• Fair grounds could also be interested in funding inclusive units like the ones we have in mind.
• Their common spaces are composed of: 1) a full flat that they rent for different purposes (chambre d’amis -sort of airbnb-), also to musicians and one of the tenants who recently needed a space bureau. 2) a common living room + kitchen+ small garden that is managed by an asbl who pays rent to Calico. The tenants can access this common space at specific hours during the week. 3) a big garden that is semipublic. It is open to the public between 09.00-18.000 and therefore the commune handles it (takes care of mowing the lawn, etc.). It looked a bit neglected, though.
• The project was built in three years because they received an important EU subsidy and that was one of the conditions. The subsidy funded 80% of the project. There was not much reflection with the architects about the building because of the urgency.
• There isn’t much turnover of tenants, but a while ago one of the tenants passed away and all the tenants participated in the interviews to choose the new one.
• They also have small teams to deal with specific things. There are two important divisions: team owners and team tenants. Each group has separate competencies, obviously.
• +/- 80% of the inhabitants are women.
• Besides being a big co-housing in which almost all neighbors are tenants and not owners, they have never had conflicts that they couldn´t solve.
• The asbl´s gives trainings to the tenants on different topics. For instance, Angela D trains neighbors on feminist issues, problems such as gender violence, etc. The trainings are compulsory. They also receive trainings on group dynamics.

Tagging @reef-inclusion and @reef-building

[RichardB]

Re-tagging @reef-inclusion to ask whether you had already been in touch with Fair Ground in the past? Happy to reach out if you want me to, as I think they could be interesting as a plan B should Oak Tree not come to fruition… I’ve been to a presentation of theirs some while back and had a positive feeling in terms of their mission.

[Sophie_B]

Hey @RichardB, thanks for reaching out. I contacted them last week and haven’t heard back so far (all emails in the proton mail inbox). Please feel free to follow up on that!