The constitution of an association or any other organized group will no longer be necessary to access housing in public housing. Low-income Costa Ricans will now only be able to benefit from these aids if they meet the requirements of the program.
This is the aim of the new rules promoted by the Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements (Mivah) to combat the so-called housing “gavilans”, which demand payments for long periods from poor families to have the right to get a house in a specific project, without any security. In essence, what is sought is to facilitate access to a voucher for those who do not know how to process it.
In interview with The nation, Minister Irene Campos explained that the main change is that the National Information System and the Single Register of State Beneficiaries (Sinirube) will now be used as a key tool to define who receives a housing voucher, so it will not be not necessary to belong to any group, often led by a “hawk”.
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“Currently, families get together and go to an approved entity to look for a particular project. It’s been defined that way since 1986. However, often families don’t know what the process is like or are in very remote conditions or don’t have the skill to get into this whole bonus process.
“So there are vulnerable families who ultimately do not have access to the bonus. But now, under the concept of precision social policy, with the Sinirube databases, we can carry out a family selection exercise across the parameters set out in Mivah Guideline 54,” he pointed out.
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The said regulation indicates in its article 3 that the housing projects of social interest financed within the framework of the law of the national financial system for housing (LSFNV), are directed to the attention of the potential beneficiary families who are in one or several of the following hypotheses:
for. Be affected by emergencies or be located in areas of imminent risk declared by executive decree or by any competent authority.
b. Be part of the target population of the Bridge to Development strategy with housing needs or other specific strategies established by the executive branch to reduce inequality or poverty.
vs. Have housing needs related to the development of a project of national interest duly declared by executive decree.
D. Have a housing need and be registered with the Target Population Identification System (SIPO) of the Mixed Institute for Social Assistance (IMAS), or in Sinirube.
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In addition to being under either of these assumptions, families are given priority if they are in “extreme need”, if they are headed by women served by law 8688 (victims of violence) and law 7769 (in a situation of poverty), if they are affected by an emergency or in a situation of imminent risk. Likewise, if there are elderly adults or disabled people present, and if they live in a slum or in a precarious situation.
Campos pointed out that now a new criterion called “rootedness” will also be added, which will give priority to families if they live near or in the neighborhood where the housing project is going to be built. The idea is that they are within an eight kilometer radius of basic services, such as health and education.
“So with that, what we want is to see the question of roots, whether it’s families who come from far away from the project or who don’t have a job. We also avoid leaks, we secure families and now they no longer need to move or have anyone put them on a list for the bonus, it will be automatic, ”he said.
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The Minister stressed that families will be able to continue to join an association or group to go to authorized entities to seek housing project options, but reiterated that this will no longer be necessary and that simply by being or being included in Sinirube by an entity, They can already be selected and contacted.
He said that while they don’t have statistics on how often the “housing hawk” problem occurs in the country, it is known to be a long-standing issue that needs to be addressed. solved and this new reform comes to fight it. “The idea is that over time people realize they don’t need it,” he said.
Likewise, he acknowledged that there are issues to be addressed with Sinirube for the targeting of social assistance to the poor to improve, but that this was taken into account before carrying out this initiative and he is confident that it will work without problems or leaks. .
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