Housing need in Paraguay

Paraguay is the third poorest country in South America. Of its 6,340,000 inhabitants (2011), more than 35 percent lives in conditions of poverty and nearly 20 percent in extreme poverty, earning less than US $1 per day.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Paraguay is ranks second in unequal distribution of wealth. While the country has had notable economic growth in recent years, this growth has not diminished the extreme poverty suffered by much of its population.

The Paraguayan government, through SENAVITAT (National Secretary of Housing and Habitat) is able to serve a limited number of the some 15,000 families in need of housing subsidies each year. In 2011, SENAVITAT proposed to triple its coverage, still only reaching 7,500 units annually. This leaves a housing deficit that grows larger each year, both in quantity and quality of homes needed. As of 2007, the deficit was already at more than 800,000 units.

In Asunción and other large cities, one out of every three families rents or lives in a borrowed home. Fifty percent of the homes in Paraguay suffer from inadequate conditions, such as:

• 23% of homes are overcrowded.
• 24% have no floor.
• 20% are situated in areas such as street curbs, parks, private property or along rivers.(Coordinadora de los Derechos Humanos Paraguay).
• Only 50% of the urban population, and less than 40% of the rural, has access to public water services.
• Only 34% of the population has access to waste collection services, resulting in a severe sanitation crisis and high infant mortality rate.

Since 1998, Habitat for Humanity Paraguay has offered a response to families suffering from these and other housing needs.

Projects
Habitat for Humanity currently works through the following projects in Paraguay.

Adequate housing for educators began in 2010, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the United States. Some 80,000 public school teachers suffer from inadequate housing conditions that affect the quality of education that they are able to provide in schools. The project provides home improvement support to teachers, so that they can focus on their families and students. Read more (Spanish)

United for your home began in 2010, in partnership with Visión Banco. The project serves an extremely low-income segment of the population that lacks accessible financial services for housing, providing new houses as well as home rehabilitations. Read more (Spanish)

For the future of our children serves families suffering from poverty who seek improved health and the holistic development of their children. Read more (Spanish)

Serving our partners is a project built upon corporate social responsibility partnerships between local businesses and families in need of housing solutions. The project allows these businesses to get involved in promoting the wellbeing of their employees’ families.

Learn more about Habitat for Humanity in Latin America and the Caribbean.