41,863 houses have been built so far this year as part of the Venezuelan government’s mass house construction program, equating to 21% of the 2012 aim of 200,000 new houses, according to the latest report from the government’s housing body.

Housing minister Ricardo Molina confirmed that with the new figures, 188,851 houses have been constructed since the Great Housing Mission (GMVV) launched in 2011, 53% of the combined 2011 – 2012 goal of 350,000 new homes.

The housing body’s national coordinator Rafael Ramirez explained last month that while over 26,000 houses were completed in the first three months of 2012, 253,000 are currently under construction, and that the government expects to meet its 2012 construction target.  The housing body including ministers of housing, defence, environment, industry, and communes.

In March President Hugo Chavez approved another 21 billion bolivars (US $4.9 billion) to support housing projects for the 2013-2014 period. “We’re going to have 416,729 housing units in construction,” said Ramirez.

April’s housing body report came as the Venezuelan government handed over 2,351 new houses to families across Venezuela yesterday. Families pay for the houses through government subsidised loans based on family income.

“Thanks to socialism and the [Bolivarian] Revolution, these families will sleep under a dignified roof as our people deserve,” said Interior and Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami at a handover ceremony in the western Tachira state.

Of the 41,863 houses built so far this year, 30% were built by the private sector and 70% by the public sector.

Housing minister Molina highlighted that 61% of public sector housing had been constructed with the involvement of communities and grassroots organisations, and lauded “the organised people working hand in hand with the revolutionary [state] institutions, developing the strategy outlined by … Chavez”.

The GMVV was launched in May 2011 with the aim of resolving Venezuela’s long term shortage of good quality affordable housing.

The program aims to construct 3 million new homes by 2019, after a nationwide registration carried out from May to October last year revealed that 3.7 million heads of families in Venezuela lack their own home or require improvements to their housing.

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