Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Frightening. with that word Francis Argeñalhead of the Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements (Seviah), described the situation of access to a decent home in Honduras.
In dialogue with LA PRENSA Premium, the official regretted that, although it is a fundamental and constitutional right, there are few who can have their own home for multiple reasons, including banking obstacles to accessing credit.
He announced that they are looking for a way to start applying vertical social housing so that people can acquire a house in urban areas, while those who are below the minimum income will be eligible for a housing voucher. These were his statements.
How do you see the housing situation in Honduras?
The housing situation in our country is currently alarming. Product of different factors. The current rates of Both qualitative and quantitative deficits exceed 1,600,000 housing unitsa deficit that becomes enormous and evidently; It is also impossible for the government alone to reduce this deficit unilaterally.
What are these programs that you are implementing or plan to implement for low-income families?
Designing those financial products that will allow us to make this sector that has historically been punished today a reality for them to be able to access a housing loan. That 60% of the population has historically paid monthly rent, they have been working for the person who rents them; Today the possibility will be opened that by fulfilling their monthly obligation, with the leasing with option to purchase mechanism, they can generate a score that will allow them to apply to buy a home.
Does this also cover this informal sector that earns less than the minimum wage?
We have another care program, which is the one in which the government subsidizes 100% of its housing, aimed at these families who are in this range of half the minimum wage downwards at the level of family income. That is, husband, wife and here the government does grant a bonus, it is not a subsidy, it grants a 100% bonus for the construction of your home.
How will housing programs be segmented?
Subsidized housing, it’s like the base. Those who have less, the government takes care of them 100%. Then there is social housing. What does our law say about social housing? Who is social housing? Those families, according to what our law mandates, those families whose total family income does not exceed four minimum wages, who have a little easier access to credit in the traditional system, the traditional financial system. That is social housing, second segment. Third third segment, average housing: those who earn the most that the emphasis on care is less than social housing because the mandate of the law is, be careful, pay me too much attention to social housing.
How many families do you plan to benefit from the bonuses?
The number of families that can be helped obviously depends on the allocated budget that the secretariat may have. That is also an important topic.
Has any thought been given to reducing rates for social and average housing?
Of course, the benefit is a double benefit, on the one hand the subsidy, on the other hand the subsidy as a credit leveraging mechanism and on the other hand preferential rates.
Are there also plans to regulate rates with banks?
We will have preferential rates, of course. And in addition to the preferential rate, the Housing Secretariat will leverage these credits through the subsidy… What we want here is to guarantee the Honduran people that in 2027, in 2028, in 2030 and in 2040 they will have guaranteed resources for access to housing credit.
And will access to housing also be guaranteed for young people?
To the young people who read us through that report, we tell them that through the implementation of the leasing with option to buy program it will be much easier. This is a very interesting mechanism for that sector, which will be able to guarantee us, well, in fact we are currently working on a program under this same lease-purchase mechanism called “My first house.” So, tell them that these are going to be the best years in terms of housing and that they will be able to materialize that dream of being able to become owners of their own home at an early age.
How to prevent the family from going into debt to obtain a home?
Well, through the implementation of this, it is not only the creation, but we can guarantee that everything that we are doing really reaches where it needs to go.
What new housing projects are there for this year??
Through the secretariat we are implementing a single window that will be governed by the inter-institutional committee that facilitates procedures as a mechanism to support developers in quickly completing the certification of their housing projects, prior to being able to extend their certification in the different secretariats.
And how will people find out what these projects are?
We are going to have an innovative system, the sectoral information system, which in the end will be like a housing marketplace where the population will be able to decide, will enter, will be able to see the different options that will be available to them according to their income level. There people will be able to see which house they can apply for.
Would this be nationwide or just for housing in the city, because people are looking for houses outside?
And sometimes it is very difficult because here in the city finding a cheap house is practically impossible. He finds it cheaper outside the city. But that is what we want to avoid… We have generated so much urban exclusion Since the city has grown outwards and the cost of land inside has increased, buying land within Tegucigalpa is practically impossible. So what are we betting on? To promote, promote multifamily housing. That is why the benefits of families that lean toward multifamily housing are greater.
What do you mean by social vertical housing?
How can you believe that in the last 5 years in this country those luxurious towers are selling like hot cakes. People love it and they are very expensive, but people love it. But if we have that to live in average housing, why can’t we implement it for social housing.
How much would the cost of vertical social housing be?
As the segment is social housing and the social housing ceiling at this time for this year is 1,400,000 lempiras. Therefore, housing units may not exceed this amount. They may be less, but not more than this so that they do not leave the social housing segment. We are currently working on the manuals… So, the technical teams are working to design the regulations that we are going to implement for vertical housing in the social segment… So, today with this vertical housing mechanism we are going to be able to guarantee families the ability to live in urban areas and have all the benefits that living in the city entails and with greater incentives when accessing their credit, because the incentives are greater.
Where would new social and medium housing projects be carried out?
The constructive offer is on the other side, it is on the side of the developers. What do we do? We help efforts to generate an attractive climate for developers. What we do is create these incentives that can guarantee the developer that there will really be demand for their housing projects.
What opinion do you have of those who say that housing in Honduras is very expensive?
Well, notice that this has been precisely due to the lack of stewardship, due to the lack of a national housing policy derived specifically from this. That is why I told you that what we from this secretariat do when it comes to certifying social housing projects is that they adjust to our requirements.
How to guarantee that the homes that developers make are of quality?
Every housing project, every developer who wants to place the benefits that the government is making or is going to make available to citizens, call them subsidies, in this specific case, speaking in terms of subsidies and bonusesyou are obliged to certify your projects with us. If your project is not certified with us, you cannot place benefits.
How to guarantee that people who want to apply for a housing project do not fall into scams?
For the population to open their eyes, all those projects that are announced to have all these types of benefits are certified with us, they can perfectly address the Secretariat of Housing and Human Settlements, not only is the project certified, but the developer is also certified and in that sense we also ask that all channeling be done through financial institutions to avoid being scammed.
