{"id":97028,"date":"2026-08-05T11:04:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/epeka.si\/the-first-cooperative-apartment-for-young-people-opened-in-maribor-from-the-basement-to-a-new-model-of-living\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:05:10","slug":"the-first-cooperative-apartment-for-young-people-opened-in-maribor-from-the-basement-to-a-new-model-of-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/epeka.si\/en\/the-first-cooperative-apartment-for-young-people-opened-in-maribor-from-the-basement-to-a-new-model-of-living\/","title":{"rendered":"The first cooperative apartment for young people opened in Maribor: From the basement to a new model of living"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday, 31 July 2026, the official opening of the first cooperative housing for young people in Slovenia, operating under the auspices of the European Housing Cooperative EPEKA, SCE<\/strong>, took place in the basement at Tyr\u0161eva Street 15 in Maribor. \u00a0The event, which began with a short press conference and a tour of the newly created premises, also served with a roundtable of experts on the burning housing issue in the city.<\/p>\n

Humble beginnings and bold plans for the future<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the president of the Epeka Association, \u0160tefan Simon\u010di\u010d, explained at the opening, the idea of a cooperative apartment germinated a decade ago, and they have been working more intensively on the project since 2020. Despite its semi-basement location, the apartment on about 50 square meters of space looks bright and comfortable and includes a bedroom, bathroom and living room with kitchen.<\/p>\n

The apartment is owned by members of the Epeka Cooperative \u2014 seven individuals who have invested their own capital \u2014 and will be rented out on a non-profit basis. Part of the profit generated will be directly invested in the purchase and arrangement of new cooperative housing. Although they originally planned to build a total of 16 apartments, they were complicated by a public auction due to the lack of priority buy-out rights for cooperatives, so they are now negotiating with a private investor who bought the rest of the building to further cooperate and expand community housing. In October, they are planning a public tender to select the first resident, or young staff, who will be able to make a significant contribution to the community.<\/p>\n