Cham,24.04.2017

Showing how it can be done

The Cham Charitable Housing Cooperative (GBC) was set up as long ago as 1964 and since this time it has set up as many as 240 affordable flats in the municipality, some having as many as four rooms yet costing less than CHF 1,000 per month.
 
The GBC was actually set up by Heinrich Baumgartner, who went on to become mayor of Cham and a member of the cantonal government. Within two years of its foundation the first families were able to move into their new homes on Enikerweg in the municipality.
 
Over the years much has changed with regard to the running of the cooperative, thanks not least to Toni Luginbühl (on the right on the photograph), a former head of the Zuger Kantonalbank who has been chairman of the GBC for the past six years. It was only at the last AGM that he handed over responsibility to the current chairman Josef Huwyler. Luginbühl is particularly proud of the fact that he is leaving the cooperative with it running very much according to the principles of its founder.
 
One way the GBC has been able to keep providing accommodation at affordable rents is because of its policy of renovating apartment blocks, some of them up to 50 years old, whereas if acquired by property developers they would almost certainly be demolished to make way for new ones.

Interesting to note, too, is how the GBC has increased its membership over the years, starting off with 48, now there are 380. And over the past six years another 15 flats have been able to be handed over to new tenants.
What is more, work on a new development of 13 flats is expected to start on the corner of Enikerweg and Pilatusstrasse this summer. In fact Luginbühl described this latest project, in which the apartments are being built to greater density, as a splendid example of what can be achieved where excellent cooperation exists between them and the local authorities. “Lengthy negotiations were necessary but has all worked out very well,” he said.
 
As Ruth Dössegger (on the left in the photograph), who heads the cooperative’s offices on Mugerenstrasse, explained, the flats provided by the GBC are mainly for families and older people. What is important, too, is that the tenants have some affinity with the municipality, with those who can prove this given priority over others. In her six years in this role, she has met many tenants, many of whom have had moving stories to tell. “Contrary to what one might think, there are a lot of people in Zug who are not so well off. Hence it is always good if we can help them find somewhere to live,” she said, adding that, alas, there is long waiting list after a surge in demand in recent years.
 
Both Luginbühl and Dössegger explained how they were constantly on the look-out for potential building sites. One worrying aspect for them is this afore-mentioned trend for older housing stock to be demolished with expensive new development built in their place. “The problem for us is finding the funds to be able to acquire these older housing blocks and renovate them,” said the retired banker. When they were asked by the journalist of the Zuger Zeitung who wrote this article if the campaign for more affordable housing as launched by the Young Socialists and Young Alternatives might help, neither wished to comment. “We do not want to get involved with the referendum campaign. What is important is that sufficient people in the community make a concerted effort to get involved in providing such housing,” both agreed.
 
While it cannot be confirmed officially, there is the possibility the cooperative will be invited to build as many as 100 flats on the former industrial site of the paper factory in the municipality. “And if this does not work out, we will still be on the look-out for potential sites elsewhere,” concluded Luginbühl. “The overriding matter is that affordable housing is provided.”