HauseHalten is an association in Leipzig which was created as a response to the city's nearly 1000 vacant sites. The project establishes new occupants in vacant buildings by transferring temporary ownership from the original occupants. The original occupant is then relieved of the maintenance costs of the building which fall upon the responsibility of the new occupant. The city also awards the new occupant with 15 euros per square meter with which to repair and build their own additions to the vacant space. Such spaces are desirable for sectors of soceity seeking alternative lifestyles which they cannot satisfy within the traditional market.
http://www.haushalten.org/de/english_summary.asp
I want one. However, it seems this only works in a city where there is a plethroa of available housing stock. Anywhere else, such spaces would be devoured by developers and sold for extraordinary prices.
ReplyDeleteIs your project location-specific? What is the vacancy rate in Vancouver? It is less that 1% in Melbourne, which makes it excrutiatingly difficult to find a place to live in the city. Sprawl is the current golden answer, with North-American-style, car-dependent, young-family-attracting, bored-and-hands-of-the-devil-fuelled-youth-forthcoming, farm-land-gobbling suburban estates, in apparent ignorance of academic prostests.
There are some underground 'communities' popping up around the city. Warehouses in poor condition are being rented for residential use - there are groups of artists who inhabit large, empty, stripped-to-the-conrete warehouses, converting them into elaborate labyrinths with clever use of disused objects and materials, and the space is constantly transforming. The inhabitants give the warehouses names like 'Seed Factory' and throw elaborate costume parties (on Sunday to keep the office workers out), involving performance art, digital art, and interactive art to raise funds for rent and food.
- Bobbie.