Spain
Ecce Homo – Zaragoza Vivienda
The Purpose
The purpose of Zaragoza Vivienda is to achieve greater efficiency in the municipal actions designed to promote the regeneration of the city, of the housing sector, the construction of new buildings and urbanization of the land to achieve a total revitalisation of degraded urban zones and as result obtain a reduction in the sale and leasing prices of buildable lots and the resulting constructions.
Vulnerable population
As result, our raison d’être is not based on the economic value of our building stock or our economic management. Our defining goal is intervention in vulnerable districts, by promoting access to housing for people with social and economic difficulties thus obtaining greater social returns in terms of social integration and an improvement in the quality of living conditions.
Refurbishment
Ever since 1989, the Town Hall of Zaragoza, through Zaragoza Vivienda has been developing policies and strategies of urban refurbishment. Our goal is to promote the modernization of the oldest, least efficient or least accessible housing stock by means of public funds designated for that purpose, by participating in European projects and by developing the necessary regulatory tools to promote and improve the possibilities of renovating the existing city.
At first the policies were focused on the Historical Centre. After 2001, they were extended to the rest of the city, through the Municipal Ordinance of Promotion of Private Refurbishment (whose subsidies where discontinued in 2011) and in the last few years, through subsidies from other institutions such as the Regional Government and the Spanish Central Government or funds from Europe together with additional municipal provisions set aside for improving energy efficiency and promoting refurbishment in situations of emergency.
Innovation and Energy Efficiency:
Zaragoza Vivienda has been participating for more than a decade in European programs that offer the possibility of starting innovative activities related to the improvement of social managing (participatory processes with tenants, awareness-raising concerning energy saving) and with energy efficiency in the housing sector (refurbishment with high sustainability criteria, socio-urbanistic analyses, the installation of renewal sources and of prototypes of heating systems for homes). This offers Zaragoza Vivienda an opportunity to try out new technologies, networking with other entities and countries, sharing and becoming familiar with new experiences in this field. We also arrange show pilot projects in various parts of the city.
ZV has an administrative, a technical and a social team who support families and manage the 2300 social rental housing units under our care in the city. Our management includes providing all the information related to the contract, the contract itself, rent calculation, subsidies, bills, renovation of contracts, finalization, etc.
