La Dinamo Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Barcelona that promotes and supports cooperative housing initiatives. Founded in 2016, it aims to make housing more accessible and affordable through community-led projects. The foundation focuses on three main areas: providing financial support, offering technical assistance, and promoting the cooperative housing model. It operates a revolving fund to help finance new cooperative housing projects, particularly those using the "right of use" model where residents don't own their homes but have secure, long-term tenure. La Dinamo typically provides loans of up to €200,000 per project for initial costs like architectural plans and deposits. It also offers grants of around €30,000 to help groups get started. To receive funding, projects must be cooperatively managed, non-speculative, and committed to social and environmental sustainability. Recent projects supported by La Dinamo include La Borda, a 28-unit cooperative building in Barcelona that has become a model for sustainable urban housing. The foundation has also backed initiatives like Sostre Cívic and La Xarxaire, which are developing new cooperative communities. Through its work, La Dinamo aims to create alternatives to traditional housing models and foster more inclusive, sustainable urban development across Catalonia and beyond.
La Dinamo Foundation, based in Catalonia, could provide valuable support to the European Housing Cooperative (EHC) initiative through its expertise and resources in promoting cooperative housing. La Dinamo's research and policy work on cooperative housing models could inform EHC's development of pan-European strategies. Their experience in supporting new cooperative housing projects and disseminating knowledge could help EHC establish best practices across different European contexts. The foundation's focus on promoting public policies to strengthen cooperative housing aligns well with EHC's goal of creating a supportive policy environment across Europe. La Dinamo could share insights from their advocacy work in Catalonia to help EHC engage with policymakers at the EU level. La Dinamo's network and partnerships within the cooperative housing sector could also benefit EHC by facilitating connections with potential members and collaborators across Europe. While La Dinamo primarily operates in Catalonia, their international perspective and research on models from other countries make them well-positioned to support a pan-European initiative. Although specific funding programs for EHC are not evident, La Dinamo has supported projects like La Borda, a pioneering cooperative housing development in Barcelona. This experience could provide valuable lessons for EHC in structuring and financing cooperative housing projects across different European contexts.