Argentina

Context at a glance

The Medina-Veliz Family in front of their new Habitat house. This year they will celebrate Christmas in their own home.

In December 2001, Argentina suffered an economic collapse that left 50 percent of the population living below the poverty line.

Currently, one third of the population lives in inadequate housing – that's 3,500,000 homes that are not fit to live in. 14.4 percent of the population are living in overcrowded conditions and just over 16 percent are living in damaged houses that need to be completely replaced (source: Siempro).

Half the housing problems could be solved by refurbishing or finishing houses, but many more families need a new home to be built.

In Argentina, it is very difficult for people to get a loan to buy a house because of very high inflation rates in the past. According to a study in 2003, a little less than a quarter of homeowners (about 1,391,221) acquired their house by means of some kind of loan.

Habitat for Humanity programme

Recognising the need for decent housing in Argentina, Habitat for Humanity built six houses in the Olavarría, Buenos Aires province in 1992.

Seven years later, a group of teachers, staff and parents of a local school and a pastor from the city of Luján made contact with HFH to discuss the possibility of establishing a permanent office in Argentina.

In 2003, the office opened in Luján and the "Reconstructing Santa Fe, One House at a Time" project was born. It helped families affected by the flooding of the Salado River that same year.

In 2004, construction of the first houses began in Santa Fe. Families were offered two- and three-room houses, at an estimated cost of £2,600 per house. The loan repayment period was up to 12 years.

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