ABZ... General Building Cooperative Zürich

At over 100 years old, ABZ is a “non-profit housing cooperative with around 5000 residential properties in the city and in the greater Zurich area.” Founded on a deal with the city that allowed them to purchase land for the purpose of affordable housing, they were able to remove the potential for increased market rates, thus continuously providing and re-developing affordable cooperative housing.

I spent the day with their CEO Hans Rupp, visiting 5 sites and discussing operations and the philosophies that surround them. They both build housing and handle the leases, and their long-term success is sustained by striking a balance between low income and higher income tenants mixed throughout their buildings. Currently they are working on increasing density on the land they already own, by replacing older buildings with newer high rises that incorporate more ground floor businesses.

Photos from 3 of our stops, at Merh Als Wohnen "More Than Living" Cooperative, Stiftungltried, and Kraftwerks "Zwicky" Cooperative.

An interesting discussion we had...

ABZ focuses on providing housing, while allowing other programs to step in with their specialties. They attempted a more holistic model with a group of elderly residents, but learned they didn’t want to get all of their support from one entity. It made them feel dependent, where they still wanted a sense of ownership over their lives. I have to assume that their support systems are more easily accessed than ours :) and/or that people value their independence and privacy in a different way.