QUICK TAKES

Panama´s Housing Deficit

By Will Irvine

With the amazing real estate boom you would think that there is no housing deficit in Panama and you would be mistaken. The real estate boom was in high end housing which with the current crisis is pretty much at a stand still. With regards to low income housing it is with this new government that strides are starting to be made. The Ministry of Housing has studies that indicate that the housing deficit is greater in the province of Panama where 41,771 housing units are needed, followed by Chiriqui needing 16,551. In the Comarca Ngobe Bugle only, 15,771 housing units are needed whereas in Veraguas 12,328 units are required. Overall in the Republic of Panama 149,000 housing solutions are needed. The government plans to aggressively attack the housing deficit and has set in motion several strategies to do this. The government announced last year the urban renewal of Curundu with apartment buildings, streets, water processing plants and other projects to make this community a better place to live for the families currently residing there. The houses in Curundu are made of cardboard, packaging material, tin and other scrap material. Urban renewals were also announced for Chorrillo and Barraza this January. These neighborhoods have very old buildings, very deteriorated which sometimes collapse leaving their residents homeless and creating serious issues for the housing authorities. Colon seems to be slated to follow these neighborhoods but that is unconfirmed as yet.

In addition to this the government is making it easier for people with formal employment albeit with low salaries to obtain housing loans with the Solidary Housing Fund which allows families with a combined salary of $800.00 to get a house valued at a maximum in $30,000.00 with a $5,000.00 non-returnable down payment financed by the government. The government has a budget for 2010 of $10 million for this program.

Another program the government has reinstated is the PARVIS which has been operating for approximately ten year already and is geared towards persons with really low income by granting them loans for construction material valued at around

$500.00. Similar to this is another loan program the government has for people with a monthly income of $600.00 who can ask for a $3,000.00 loan for materials to finish, repair or improve existing housing structures they own. For this last project the government has a budget of $1.3 million and at least $151,000.00 for each province.

With these programs the government hopes to reduce social violence, the incidence of gangs and provide people with one of the basic human needs a safe place to call home. It seems to truly be President Martinelli slogan: "The people´s turn" are not just words but turning into fact.

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