Stadtwerke Offenbach's GBO celebrates its 100th anniversary
It has given several generations of Offenbach residents a home, it has fought against exploding rents in the city and it is successfully committed to social coexistence in the city: GBO Gemeinnützige Baugesellschaft mbH Offenbach, which today belongs to Stadtwerke Offenbach, was founded 100 years ago.
From the very beginning, it focused on people with a low income. Over the decades, however, the perspective of the managing directors and the city widened. With every apartment that was added over the past 100 years, the importance of the municipal housing association for the whole of Offenbach grew. This not only created a home for the citizens, but also had a positive impact on the overall level of rents.
And it is not just apartments that are managed, maintained and newly built by the team of around 70 employees: The portfolio also includes properties that are important for the cohesion of a city society. Whether Stadthalle, Ostpol or Künstlerhaus Rumpenheim - these buildings, some of which are steeped in tradition, offer spaces in which culture, business and art can flourish.
GBO celebrates with a largely contactless program
A tradition like this calls for a celebration: music and comedy, games and entertainment, champagne and seltzer, snacks and bratwurst. For the tenants anyway, but also for all interested Offenbach residents - that's what the anniversary committee thought in 2019. In spring 2020, all preparations for the big events were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. What remained was a small but exquisite and largely contactless program to draw attention to the importance and diversity of the municipal housing association.
As the 14 signatories of the founding agreement only met to sign on December 31, 1921, the GBO will continue to commemorate its anniversary throughout 2021.
Photo competition to kick things off
The first step has already been taken and was of course aimed at the people who live in the GBO apartments and make the properties their home. GBO wanted to find out what this home means to them with a photo competition and called for people to send in pictures.
All of the Stadtwerke Offenbach employees who voted on the entries were delighted with the creativity: from the engagement on the balcony to the magazine-worthy staging of their own living room to the photo collage of family life in the cozy rental apartment, the shots show how connected many of the people are to their GBO apartment.
Around 100 tenants sent us photos of their home and its surroundings. They included shots of the balcony planting in summer as well as pictures in the snow on the lawn in front of the building. The Grondys family won with a collage entitled "Home is where my family is". Second place went to the Nedanoski family: the picture shows seven-year-old Niko, who has recreated the GBO house in which he lives out of cardboard in his children's room. In third place was a photo by Maria Di Bono, who submitted a picture of her perfectly furnished living room. The winners received cash prizes, and vouchers for the Rumpenheim community center and the Laier coffee roastery were also sent to the following 17 places.
Program shows importance for the city
The largest landlord in Offenbach, 94 percent of which is owned by Stadtwerke Offenbach Holding and six percent by the city, will also be highlighting individual buildings in its portfolio in the coming months that stand for a special commitment and will use various channels to provide information about its tradition and highlight its current importance in the city. Depending on how the pandemic develops, the GBO also hopes to be able to invite people to one or two events. This will be announced at short notice.
February 25, 2021