Spotlight: Housing program helps Venezuela fight off poverty

[Judi Lynn]

Spotlight: Housing program helps Venezuela fight off poverty
English.news.cn 2015-10-15 13:33:46

by Raimundo Urrechaga

CARACAS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government has engaged in a massive social program over the past four years to house many of low-income families, moving them from shanty slums to newly-built communities.

In April of 2011, the Great Housing Mission Venezuela was launched by late President Hugo Chavez after tens of thousands of families lost their homes in heavy rains and severe floods that swept across the country. Those victims were given temporary shelters by the government and others were helped by the authorities to fix their precarious homes. However, about 33,000 families lost everything and had to stay in shelters.

The housing project has planned to build 3 million homes by 2019 and so far, 742,000 homes have been handed over to low-income Venezuelan families. According to former minister of housing, Ricardo Molina, this program brings a "new life" to poor Venezuelans who had never hoped for or dreamed of moving into a new apartment at low costs.

"The lives of these 742,000 families have changed radically. Initially we handed over the apartments to those who had lost everything and now we have a solid mission that has never been done in the history of our country," Molina to Xinhua.

More:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-10/15/c_134716353.htm

[FBaggins]

1. You know you've got problems when even the propaganda is bad news

They delivered over half a million of those homes in the first 18-24 months of the program. That rate would need to be increased substantially in order to hit their goal of 3 million by 2019... yet this report makes it clear that the construction rate has been cut in half over the last two years.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Where do you get the "propaganda" slur to throw at this article? n/t