Bauverein Breisgau is the largest housing association in Sdbaden. In the Corona times, he expanded his training offer and set up an aid fund.
Crises? Bauverein Breisgau has already survived a great deal of this. Yes, he’s even the child of a crisis. More than 120 years ago, smart people were already thinking about how to create affordable housing that enables its residents to live in dignity and health. At that time, too, the housing situation was a long-running issue in the public debate. Workers, employees and craftsmen had great difficulty in finding an affordable roof over their heads in Freiburg, under which they could live without endangering their own well-being.
1899 was the year of birth of Bauverein Breisgau – a reaction to the tense housing market. Today the building association with around 5000 apartments between Schallstadt and Herbolzheim is the largest housing association in South Baden and one of the most important and oldest in Baden-Wrttemberg. At the beginning, the members subscribed to cooperative shares for several months’ wages. With this start-up capital in the back and a lot of personal work, the first high-quality apartments were built, which the members could then use themselves at a price that did not exceed their income. Around 15,000 people now live in the Bauverein properties in the region.
“Today more than ever, Bauverein Breisgau lives up to its basic mandate to ensure quality of living at affordable prices.” Marco Wlfle
“Today more than ever, Bauverein Breisgau is fulfilling its basic mandate of providing quality living at affordable prices,” says Professor Marco Wlfle, course director at the German Real Estate Academy at the University of Freiburg. For him, cooperatives are an important player in the housing market: “They make a decisive contribution to a healthy mix in cities and communities. Through the cooperatives, for example, young families can also find suitable living space in sought-after centers.”
Tending to the existing stock, supervising new construction projects, managing 3,500 third-party apartments, operating our own subsidiary for climate-friendly energy and a savings facility with 115 million euros – this requires a large number of qualified specialists. As the construction association grows – in 2009 there were around 15,000 members, today there are 24,000 – the number of workers is also increasing. Over 120 people work for the cooperative today.
In order to be able to attract enough good employees despite the demographic change and to continuously impart new knowledge, the construction association has increased its training commitment. “We see this as a decisive investment in the future”, says the managing director Jrg Straub. The cooperative maintains regional educational partnerships, for example with the secondary school in Btzingen. Bauverein employees present their professions there.
“In June 2020 we set up a Corona emergency aid fund.” Jrg Straub
New offers such as training to become a broker for office management were created and the number of training places increased to five. The cooperative also cooperates with the real estate academy of the University of Freiburg. In this way, part-time studies are possible for employees. The first successful graduates are already there. A sponsorship pool is intended to enable promising young people to develop their talents in the construction association.
The building association met the corona crisis with solidarity – in addition to helping people to help themselves, the second pillar of a functioning cooperative. “In June 2020 we set up a Corona emergency aid fund,” says Jrg Straub. At the same time, the members approved an adjustment to the dividend. “We want to help the people in our cooperative who are particularly badly affected by the Corona crisis, for example people whose livelihoods were destroyed by the pandemic,” says the board of directors. The cooperative also promoted neighborhood help, one of the most effective forms of support, with its own neighborhood association. In the pandemic, for example, the idea of a shopping service in individual quarters was launched and coordinated.
“In this respect, the Bauverein is also a refugee cooperative by tradition.” Marc Ullrich
The building association has long acted as a door opener. Anyone who is a stranger, looking for affordable four walls and reliability in living, has already found the organization a sought-after point of contact in the past. Many Germans who came to Freiburg after the end of the First World War from Alsace-Lorraine, which once again belonged to France, found accommodation in the cooperative’s specially built houses. “The Bauverein is traditionally also a refugee cooperative,” says CEO Marc Ullrich. Today, a Syrian works with Zaki Musalati in the construction department, who fled from the ruins of the city of Aleppo, which was destroyed by the civil war. The Bauverein has now hired the architect for an unlimited period.
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