From previous experience of dealing with the problem of urban poverty, ASAYMA knew that it needed a multifaceted approach to addressing exclusionary structures and institutions in Toledo. In 1997, it began the Platform for Housing in Toledo program (PVT) which sought to work with government agencies and private companies to be able to offer technical, financial, educational and human-resource support to program beneficiaries.
The following year (1998), it created ASAYMA PVT Construccion – a construction company specializing in the rehabilitation of historic buildings whose sole aim was to serve as a training ground and employer for PVT participants. Some beneficiaries were employed with this company while others were helped to find work with third parties/other companies.
As employees of ASAYMA PVT Construccion, target beneficiaries were trained in the work of gardening, construction and conservation-restoration of historic structures, particularly in rehabilitating Moorish architecture, of which there is little expertise in the district (an in-demand skill which was later helpful in finding former PVT participants find jobs with other employers). The construction company exposed participants to an ‘artificial work environment’ since part of the training itself was familiarizing previously unemployable or difficult-to-employ individuals with holding a job; teaching them how to act in the work place and how to be good employees and co-workers. While employed with the company or under “insertion contracts” with other companies, beneficiaries and their families lived in one of the apartment buildings they were working on. Half of the units in each building were leased at market rates to youths and other mainstream tenants (often from a higher socioeconomic background than the beneficiaries) partly as a financing scheme (to subsidize the cost of reserving the other half of the property to serve as temporary housing for the project beneficiaries) and in part to expose PVT participants to home environments which did not carry the stigma of being ‘ghettos’ or perceived as low-income housing – a negative perception which contributes to their experience of exclusion. Part of their salaries thus went to paying the lease on the apartment unit (at subsidized, lower than market rates) and another part (a mandated € 250 per month) went toward savings in a bank account. These savings could not be withdrawn by the participant as this was meant to build the individual’s credit rating (thereby increasing their chances of being approved for a bank loan in future) and would later become the downpayment for the purchase of their own home (n.b., if the beneficiaries later decided against continuing to save up for their own homes, previous deposits were forfeited).
At the same time, the PVT scheme also provided services to the rest of the family (e.g., offered support services to help women improve their home management and housekeeping abilities, actively discouraged truancy and juvenile delinquency among children, employed women in ASAYMA) because it recognized that the whole household was heavily affected when the primary breadwinner was disadvantaged; that other family members contribute to the success or failure of efforts at reintegrating people into society; that exclusionary structures within the family such as gender inequality existed and had to be addressed as well; and because it hoped to break the cycle of poverty that reinforced the marginal status of families and continued it into the next generation.
By 2003, ASAYMA PVT Construccion had renovated three buildings (converted into 23 apartments) greatly increasing the market value of the properties. In the same year, the first beneficiary family had reached the last stage of empowerment under the PVT scheme: building more permanent homes for themselves and purchasing it at cost; empowered decision making in terms of selecting the type of home they preferred and the location they wanted). By 2005, 4 of the 575 beneficiary families (a total of 2,300 individuals) had built and bought their own houses and 5 more were preparing to do the same. As of 2006, 149 contracts of employment have been obtained helping project participants find regular, stable employment with other companies (62 of which are insertion contracts). ASAYMA still offers follow-up services to beneficiaries formerly employed by ASAYMA PVT Construccion who have since moved on to other jobs. It coordinates with managers/supervisors who have employed PVT participants and maintains support groups that meet regularly to offer means for conflict resolution in the workplace and the family.
