The conditions of the state-subsidized housing in Buenos Aires

The “Instituto de Vivienda de la Ciudad” (IVC, for its Spanish acronym) [Institute in charge of state-subsidized housing] has the objective of planning, and developing special programs in order people can get a house to live. This is accomplished trough the construction, urbanization and promotion of the life in community of all neighbors.

One of the most challenging and expensive programs is the one that points at urbanizing those disadvantaged neighborhoods and shantytowns of Buenos Aires. For the next 4 years, it has been established that 7,000 houses will be built, and in total (in the future time) it has been estimated that 25,000 will be constructed; plus, the necessary infrastructure.

Likewise, with the idea of improving the quality of life of the most disadvantaged sectors of the city, many public works such as the electrical installation; sewer system installation; improvement of paths; among others, is been done.

Another mechanism of providing state-subsidized housing is through the acquisition and repairing of old buildings or factories which are not being used or have never been fully constructed. Instead of building houses from scratch, the IVC buys these buildings through an open tender, and then it repairs them, in order to sell them and finance their selling, if necessary, for those who need it.

The IVC has a huge amount of programs that seeks to fulfill each family’s needs, in order every one of them can get a decent place to live. Most programs of the IVC have many years of functioning, but due to the crisis of the year 2001, and from there on, those programs had to be reorganized in order to be fulfilled.

The programs in charge of providing state-subsidized housing in Buenos Aires seem to be well planned. It is only a matter of seeing if they become a reality, so that many Argentine families can get to have a place to live, and improve their quality of living.