Partnering with Chilean government to implement housing subsidies

							                                                                                                           PARTNERSHIPS

                                                                                                                    Chile




                                                                                                                                                               PA R T N E R S H I P S
                                                                                                                                   COURTESY OF HABITAT CHILE
  Partnering with Chilean government to
  implement housing subsidies



H
          abitat for Humanity Chile is working with the          families. In order to qualify for the subsidies, low-income
          Chilean government to build houses with low-           families need to develop a savings plan and meet a series of
          income families. The partnership is a benefit to both   requirements. The prerequisites differ according to which
the organization and the government because it removes the       housing subsidy the family is applying for.
responsibility from the government to actually implement the        In spite of the subsidy program and the best efforts by
building process, and it allows the local Habitat for Humanity   MINVU to improve the housing problem, the situation in
offices to focus on their expertise and on the families’ needs.    Chile continues to be critical. The housing deficit in the
    For the past 40 years, the Chilean government has been       country is extremely high, and estimates place the need at over
offering housing subsidies to poverty-stricken families. The      1 million houses—500,000 new homes are needed, while the
program is managed by Regional Housing and Urbanism              other half require improvements to existing housing stock.
Services (SERVIU), which is a department of the Ministry of
Housing and Urbanism (MINVU). During these past four             Priciple Objectives
decades, the ministry has experimented with a number of          The offices of Habitat for Humanity in Chile have identified
different types of incremental housing subsidies and solu-        two principle objectives in their initiatives involving govern-
tions with the goal of improving housing for all Chilean         ment housing subsidies:
•   They would like to witness a me-
    dium-term reduction in the overall
    housing deficit by 2010, which is
    the bicentennial of Chile’s indepen-
    dence from Spain.
• They would like to improve the
    quality standards of social hous-
    ing in Chile by building subsidized
    housing solutions that are more
    appropriate in size, space distri-
    bution, quality of acoustic and
    thermal isolation, and demonstrate




                                                                                                                                        COURTESY OF HABITAT CHILE
    an improved seismic resistance.
    Families applying for housing assis-
tance through this combined govern-
ment subsidy/Habitat for Humanity
initiative may qualify for one of several
different programs:
• Construction of complete house, at a value of US$6,200.               subsidies and reach an ever-increasing number of families
• The first stage of a progressive house, worth approximately            in need, HFH Chile has created a separate, local foundation
    US$5,200.                                                           which is in the process of registering under the National
• The second stage (i.e. completion) of a progressive house,            Register of Contractors (RENAC) from MINVU.
    valued at approximately US$1,400.                                       Once this registration is complete, the local office of
• Expansion of an existing home, valued at around                       Habitat for Humanity will increase its efficiency in the
    US$3,100.                                                           collection of subsidies, reduce the term for the recovery of
                                                                        the investment, and allow the construction of new housing
Partnership to Date                                                     solutions with families in need to continue at an even faster
In the three years since beginning the program, Habitat                 pace. More importantly, the new classification will allow the
for Humanity has built 83 housing solutions using housing               organization to participate in “Collective Subsidy Projects”
subsidies. They plan to continue expanding the program, and             that grant a greater financing per family (up to US$9,900),
have the goal of completing a total of 1,000 subsidy-funded             which includes financing not only for the construction of the
units over the next four years.                                         house, but also the value and infrastructure of the land.
    Financial resources invested in the construction of
these houses are received within 12 months of the houses’
completion, greatly increasing the flow of financing to the                 Contact
construction process and increasing the potential for serving             Luís Sanibañez, Chile Director
additional families in a short amount of time.                            luis@hphchile.cl
    In order to expedite the process, access higher levels of



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