Haiti will benefit from a new affordable housing initiative thanks to efforts by World Council of Credit Unions and funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development.
USAID has awarded WOCCU the Home Ownership and Mortgage Expansion program, worth $6.99 million, to catalyze the housing finance sector to create access to affordable housing for average Haitian households. USAID/Haiti and WOCCU, with its partners Habitat for Humanity International and the Affordable Housing Institute, have developed a program to work directly with Haitian financial institutions and housing developers to support initiatives that will create and strengthen affordable housing financial products and services in Haiti.
The end goal is to make the effort a Haitian-led and owned initiative.
Since 2009, WOCCU has helped Haitian financial institutions expand access to agricultural and rural finance through its flagship USAID-funded HIFIVE program. With the new HOME Program, which will be led by affordable housing expert Duane Kissick, WOCCU and its partners will focus on improving the housing finance market.
Following the 2010 earthquake, the U.S. Government, in close collaboration with the Haitian government, developed a housing strategy to build short-term shelters and longer-term greenfield homes. Based on successes and lessons learned from this approach, USAID/Haiti now looks at the entire housing value chain to find a sustainable solution to the affordable housing shortage in Haiti.
“World Council and its partners are excited to spur the development of innovative housing finance products for low and middle income Haitians, who previously had little to no access to affordable housing,” Peter Graves, WOCCU's senior vice president of technical services, said.
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