Housing Cooperative
Access to housing in Amsterdam is increasingly difficult. For more and more people it has become impossible to buy a property with a mortgage. At the same time the social rent sector has shrunk beyond recognition, while the private rental market has sky-high prices.
Housing cooperatives offer an alternative model for accessible living, based on principles of collective ownership, solidarity and sharing. As members of a cooperative, people rent affordable apartments, run the association, and manage the property all at the same time. In this way, the building can never be divided into individual units and/or sold on the market.
The municipality of Amsterdam also sees the potential of cooperatives for a healthy and accessible housing climate in the city. The current city government, as announced in their Action Plan Wooncoöperatie, aims to deliver 7000 homes through the cooperative model in the next five years. De Nieuwe Meent is the second pilot project of this program. Its success should therefore also pave the way for more collective housing initiatives throughout the city.
Business Case
The total investment of the project is approximately €8 million. The majority of this will be used for construction, around €5.2 million. Design and development costs amount to approximately €750,000.
47.2% of the budget comes from a long-term mortgage with Rabobank. 31% consists of loans from the municipality of Amsterdam. 2.1% consists of contributions from the members of the cooperative. The remaining 19.7% comes from crowdfunding, impact loans, subsidies, and donations.
In particular, we would like to mention that €450,000 was raised through crowdfunding. Supporters of the Nieuwe Meent could donate or purchase project bonds with a maturity of 5, 10, or 15 years at an interest rate of 1.8%. All supporters become official ‘dNM Neighbors’ of our community. Additionally, social financer Katalys and the social movement of existing cooperative buildings in Amsterdam and Utrecht guarantee to cover a cost overrun of up to € 175.000 during construction. This was the final piece of the puzzle needed to make the construction of the Nieuwe Meent possible.
After the building is completed, the collected rent will be used to pay operational costs and repay loans. As stated in our statutes, surpluses will be used by the cooperative for improvements to the collective property or invested in projects with the same principles as dNM: collective ownership, solidarity, and sharing. In this way, we are making the cooperative movement in the Netherlands bigger and stronger.
