March 26, 2006
Chávez announces housing project expansion
(The Daily Journal) - "Through a combined purchasing and building plan, the government has subsidized 50,000 the nation's poor and hopes to homes hand, over 150,000 homes by the end of the year, President Hugo Chávez said (...)
The head of the Habitat and Housing Ministry (MINVIH), which oversees the project, said he was happy with the rate of progress.
'The rate that we have achieved is impressive. By the end of the year must we must have 150,000 homes. We are going to work very hard,' Luis Carlos Figueroa said on the President's show.
The government's housing program was granted USD 391 million (Bs. 840 billion) this year to build and purchase what the MINVIH calls 'dignified housing' for Venezuela's poor, who face a deficit in housing estimated at around 1 million homes. This figure does not include some 135,000 additional houses needed each year as part of the regular growth in demand.
Worsening the problem, another 70,000 homes are also in danger of falling apart or being washed away due to poor construction and instable foundations, according to Libertador Municipality Risk Director José Gregorio Delgado.
Some 7,500 families were forced from their dwellings last February after severe rains, and another 5,000 families living near the recently collapsed Viaduct 1 were evacuated this year.
The USD 391 million (Bs. 840 billion) will be used to finance the purchase of previously owned homes, as well as the construction of new homes and shelters. Chávez also said that the government would help pay for home appliances for the most needy.
MINVIH spent USD140 billion on projects so far this year, including the purchase of 2,800 homes. In 2005, the ministry bought 6,900 previously lived-in homes.
Figueroa, the housing minister, said that his ministry planned to invest USD 222 million (Bs. 478 billion) of the program budget in the construction of seven thousand houses in Ocumare del Tuy.
The cost of the government homes is USD 23 thousand (Bs.49 million), of which USD 10 thousand (Bs.21 million) is subsidized by the Housing Ministry if the buyer earns less than USD 420 (Bs.900,000) per month, according to the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN).
The government's definition of a 'dignified house' is a structure of at least 70-square meters in size, with a separated bedroom, and one bathroom. The home must be equipped with electricity, and also provide other essential services like water and transportation.
The houses must also have flat, tar-topped roofs that permit the building of a second floor and be built on foundations deemed stable by the fire department or civil protection.
The 'dignified' designation is an improvement on the standards of previous government subsidized housing, according to Chávez. As 'small boxes of phosphorus which they gave to you without doors, without windows and without toilets', President Chávez described existing state-sponsored housing".
