PROJECT
|
Sustainable Housing Management in Bulgaria; improving the capacity of
homeowners associations of multi-family apartment buildings
Project summary
Foundation Housing+ in cooperation with
Woondrecht/De Nieuwe Unie and the
Bulgarian Housing Association BHA
Background
Multi-apartment residential buildings represent in Bulgaria a large share of the total building
stock. Many shortcomings can be observed in the management of these buildings:
1. A large share of apartments was privatised in the early nineties. Individual homeowners
and homeowner associations do not have enough expertise to manage their buildings and
plan and implement major renovation projects.
2. The financial management for both day-to-day management and for major renovation
projects is poor. The financial resources are often lacking.
3. Long-term multi-stakeholder strategies on building maintenance and renovation are often
lacking and are developed without involvement of homeowners and their associations.
4. Municipal housing planning is not well developed and very fragmented. The role of
homeowners is very small.
Objectives and target group
The project will contribute to improving the management of residential multi-apartment
buildings in Bulgaria by means of transfer of knowledge and the twinning with Dutch
organisations. The key target groups in this project are homeowners, the homeowner
associations of multi-apartment building as well as their associations. In addition, the project
will work with municipalities, maintenance and administration companies, and national
government.
Activities
The project will start autumn 2004 and run for 18 months. The following activities are
foreseen:
1. Individual homeowner associations will be supported and trained in housing management.
In Bulgaria, a regional union of homeowner associations will be established.
2. New approaches in organising and financing renovation projects will be developed, also
contributing to improving the energy efficiency of the buildings.
3. An international seminar in Bulgaria on housing management will be held sharing
experiences among countries in Central- and Eastern Europe. Bulgarian stakeholders will
also visit the Netherlands for discussion with their Dutch counterparts. The results of the
projects will be synthesized and published in a strategy paper.
Main partners
The Foundation Housing+
initiates, supports and
promotes cooperation
between Dutch and foreign
organisations in Central and
Eastern Europe. The
activities include: training
programmes, consultancy,
workshops, and conferences.
Woondrecht manages more
than 8.300 dwellings in
Dordrecht and provides a
large share of housing for
lower-income groups.
Woondrecht also particularly
provides for consumers who have difficulties finding adequate housing, e.g. elderly people,
young people and handicapped people. Woondrecht employs about 160 staff.
De Nieuwe Unie, with some 27.000 dwellings and 220 employees, is one of the major housing
associations in Rotterdam. De Nieuwe Unie rents, manages, sells and builds houses in many
areas of Rotterdam and is, therefore, both a developer as a manager.
The Bulgarian Housing Association (BHA) has been established by a group of Bulgarian
housing experts, local government officials and private developers. The Bulgarian Housing
Association aims:
1. to promote the development of Bulgarian dwellings in the context of market-oriented
economy, local climate and geographic conditions, and national traditions.
2. to enable provision of affordable housing, economically constructed through co-operation
between public and private parties, including local government, householders, voluntary
organisations, construction companies and financial institutions.
3. to promote the establishment of non-governmental organisations in the housing sector.
Contact
Stichting Housing+
Chris van der Schoot
P.O. Box 7040
3430 JA Nieuwegein
the Netherlands
tel. +31 (0) 30 6000713 / fax. +31 (0) 30 6090569
info@housingplus.nl
Bulgarian Housing Association
George Georgiev
1170 Studentski grad, bl.7a, app.30
Sofia, Bulgaria
+359 28687199 / +359 28687199
bha_bg@yahoo.co.uk
This project is funded by the Matra Projects Programme of the Netherlands.
|
|
