Guatemala

Context at a glance

Regina's Habitat house. Her son Rudy is playing football with friends

In Guatemala, there is a need for 1.6 million houses. Families currently live in huts or overcrowded rented rooms. Land tenure is a huge problem because many people invade property belonging to the state or to individuals, so most low-income families are not the legal owners of the land they inhabit. These properties do not have basic utilities and are located in high-risk high-crime areas in the cities.

Families are at risk from maternal and infant death due to gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin diseases because of the poor living conditions.

For low-income families, there is no way out. Homebuyer loans are subject to an interest rate of 18-30 percent and the price of a plot of land is unaffordable. Many families claim that without Habitat for Humanity, they would never have been able to build their own homes.

Habitat for Humanity programme

By the end of 2005, HFH Guatemala had celebrated the construction of house number 25,000. By the end of 2008, the hope is to hand over the keys of house number 40,000.

The first Habitat houses in Latin America and the Caribbean were built in Guatemala in 1979. The vision remains the same today – that everyone in Guatemala should have access to a decent house.

Structured as a community organisation that includes the participation of more than 1,300 volunteers, HFH specialises in working with those families that have no access to the national financing system and who are living in substandard conditions.

An average 3,000 Habitat homes are constructed each year in 15 regions. 70 percent of these houses are in rural zones and 30 percent in urban areas.

Depending on the future homeowner's ability to pay, the house measures from 32 m² to 51 m². The loan for the cost of the house is granted for an 8-year term and is repaid through monthly instalments of £11. This represents a third or a quarter of the cost of renting a single room!

Houses are built with cement blocks, iron and tin roof sheets. They have a metal door and four windows. All the materials are sourced locally and the design is earthquake-proof.

Read about the latest appeal in Guatemala

Update on Guatemala – find out more about Habitat's exciting building plans and the difference the work is making to homeowners' lives.

Read a volunteer story from Guatemala An unforgettable adventure

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