Winterthur renovates 368 homes without evicting tenants

Winterthur is renovating 368 flats while tenants remain in their homes, forcing residents to spend about two months cooking and showering in containers, SRF reports.

The flats on Burgstrasse and Eckwiesenstrasse in the Winterthur district of Wülflingen are in clear need of renovation. Plaster is crumbling from the balconies, the façades are discoloured and the kitchens show the effects of missing extractor fans.

Over eight years, the 1950s and 1960s flats will receive new kitchens, bathrooms, pipe systems and balconies. The façades will be insulated, windows upgraded for energy efficiency and heating systems replaced with heat pumps.

Instead of terminating the tenancies, the real estate company Terresta chose to carry out the work while the buildings remain occupied. Claudia Suter, Terresta’s head of development and construction, said the aim was to preserve and provide socially affordable housing.

Most tenants say the process is inconvenient but that staying in their homes is the most important thing. The monthly rent for Jasmin Freitag’s four-room flat is currently about 1,400 Swiss francs. It is expected to rise by around 400 francs after the renovation.

Freitag, 35, moved to Eckwiesenstrasse in 2019 with her partner and their daughter, who was one at the time. They chose the flat partly because of its affordable rent. After learning about the renovation plans about a year ago, she looked for an alternative home but was unsuccessful.

Her kitchen and bathroom have been completely stripped out and separated from the rest of the flat by dust barriers. She has set up a makeshift pantry in the living room. When it is time to cook, she takes ingredients and kitchen equipment into the courtyard, where a kitchen container and sanitary containers serve the 30 tenants currently affected.

“We like camping, and right now it is like being at a campsite,” Freitag said. She added that meeting neighbours in the containers, sometimes while still wearing pyjamas, brought residents closer together.

Constant construction noise and moving between the flats and the containers are particularly difficult for some older residents, she said. The situation requires flexibility, adaptability and calm.

The Zurich Tenants’ Association called Terresta’s approach in Winterthur the best solution. Walter Angst, the association’s head of communications, said evicting tenants for economic reasons was unacceptable and that, when properly managed, renovating occupied homes could benefit everyone involved.