El Pedreguer town hall has launched a innovative participatory process with a clear objective: mobilize municipal public land to facilitate the access to housing for young people in the municipality, from a social, collective and non-speculative perspective.
The initiative was born from the will political to answer one of the main social challenges from the region of the Marina Alta, Where the strong tourist pressure has severely hampered the access to decent and affordable housing for the local population.
The project gains momentum as a result of the recent visit of the mayor of Pedreguer to Barcelonawhere he was able to learn firsthand cooperative housing experiences successfully implemented in Catalonia, especially models that demonstrate that it is possible guarantee the right to housing from collective formulas and with a clear vocation of public serviceThis visit has been key to conveying to the municipality a transformative vision: The public land cannot be treated as a market productespecially when access to housing has become a structural problem.
From the very beginning, the Pedreguer project has been committed to decommodification of housingIt's not just about build floors, but of to promote a collective project of coexistence, rooted in the people and thought by and for young people. The participatory process aims to form a housing cooperativewhere future users are active protagonists in the definition of the spaces, the internal relations and connection with the neighborhood and with the entire municipality.
La community dimension is one of fundamental pillars of the initiative. The City Council understands that its "task" is not limited to make public land available of the project, but implies accompany the entire process, both in the technical field and the social. The construction of a cohesive community, with shared values and with self-management capacity, is as important as the housing infrastructure.
La first participatory session took place in the past December 20 and had the participation of interested young people to become part of the project. This initial session has served to to present the general framework, sharing expectations and start weaving links among the participants. The sessions will continue throughout the months of January and February, con el objetivo de consolidate cooperative work necessary to be able to carry out the project with guarantees.
With this initiative, Pedreguer takes a brave step towards a new model of access to housing, based on the cooperation, the rootedness to the territory and defense of the right to live in the townA project that wants to be reference in the Marina Alta and demonstrate that, with political will y citizen participationThere real alternatives to real estate speculation.
