A problem without magic solutions
Retail Cat and Amat Immobiliaris analysed the same problem from different points of view:
Retail Cat analysed how to regenerate the commerce and give exit to the retailers that are being lost by the city in the middle of closed doors.
Amat Immobiliaris analyzed how to address the need, now urgent, for housing for young people and the elderly, if possible to rent and providing social value.
The emergency of housing is sadly a reality, both for the lack of supply for rent, situation that leads to price inflation, the expulsion of former tenants in peripheral or very distant areas and, above all, because we are aware that we can not Cover with quick recipes. It is a problem without magical solutions.
These are the words I said when we presented with Juan Carlos Calbet of Retail Cat a possible solution, within the events of the Week of Commerce. A grain of sand where everyone wins and can contribute between 5,000 and 8,000 homes for rent.
The study carried out since 2009 is based on the fact that the new formulas of e-commerce and concentrations in shopping centers have come to stay and the supply of small shops in third and fourth lines of a city dies due to lack of activity.
Even today we are in time to save the current business of these areas if we design neighborhood-by-neighborhood shopping centers and help these businesses move to the designed shopping areas.
The change of use itself already means an increase in assets that can help the merchant to make the transfer and in case he is a tenant, he should act by way of financing or subsidies.
We can reconvert the premises into homes for the elderly without any architectural barrier, bringing them closer to the street, which is the same as bringing them closer to life, with low costs, because it is about building very clear structures.
We have invested a lot in putting elevators and it has been very good, but life is extended and there comes a time when it is not possible to lower the elevators, condemning our grandparents to be locked for years in a flat, which leads to isolation social and psychological
We do not find flats for young people who do not leave home before the age of 30. It is society that loses the most, because young people have to leave home well, they must know how to take their own path, we can not cut their freedom, they must move and risk and leave home is the first part of a long learning.
They can also be users of converted premises and, at the same time, invigorating streets and providing vitality to older people who will have neighbors.
The costs of reconverting them are very low, because they must be very clear and standardized.
And also win the communities of owners who today suffer dirt, abandonment of the premises and also problems for future projects of rehabilitation of the real estate whenever the premises have a coefficient that exceeds 15% of the property and, therefore, are essential to carry out any project and do not make it easy given that they have been closed for years and years.
Catalonia has 30,000 empty spaces at the moment and will continue to grow. We can not continue like this, we need coordinated decisions among all the institutions that, in one way or another, can change the current criteria and allow this grain of sand to be possible.
The win-win is a reality, the merchant wins who can move to more central areas, the owner who today has it closed wins, the community of owners wins, the society wins, offering solutions for grandparents and young people, the city wins , because we would improve the image, the cleanliness and the security of many streets, and the neighbors will win that would have much more life than the closed and dirty doors of today.
Shall we start?
Joana Amat
Vice-president of Amat Immobiliaris
