Chile : private sector cooperative housing II

The Corporacion para la Vivienda Popular (COVIP), a corporation owned by 3 housing cooperatives and 2 PVO"s, will be the implementing agency. The primary beneficiaries will be families with monthly incomes below the median. A range of housing solutions will be offered under the program. Standard cooperative units will receive 55% of HG funds. Reduced-cost co-op units, which will be smaller, less finished, and affordable to families in the third decile of income, will receive 25% of HG funds. Special low-income units -- part of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development"s Extraordinary Housing Program (PEV) -- which will be affordable to families in the second decile, will get 15% of the funds, while the remaining 5% will be used to build sanitary core units for the lowest income groups. In all, 1,476 standard co-op, 1,007 low-cost co-op. 805 PEV, and 1,127 sanitary core units will be built; 60% of the funds will be used in provincial cities outside of the Santiago metropolitan area. Beneficiaries will be required to make a downpayment of 12.5% from their own savings, and use 20% of their income to amortize a long-term mortgage. The institutional capacity of cooperatives and other participating organizations will also be strengthened. As a result, these organizations will be able to initiate additional projects, such as savings mobilization for community projects like street paving or the development of small parks. Additionally, strengthened institutional capacity will enable private housing institutions to be more innovative in meeting the needs of the working population.