HOME Program Quarterly Report [Q1 FY 2016]

Government in collaboration with the Government of Haiti. The program aims to address the housing shortage in Haiti, which was exacerbated by the 2010 earthquake that destroyed over 180,000 homes and created a backlog of nearly 300,000 units. The HOME program seeks to provide innovative solutions to unlock liquidity in the Haitian banking sector, mitigate risk for participating financial institutions, and enable low, moderate, and middle-income Haitian households to access affordable housing. The HOME program is implemented by the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU), Habitat for Humanity International (HFHII), and the Affordable Housing Institute (AHI). The program's strategy focuses on catalyzing and incentivizing the supply and demand sides of the housing value chain to create affordable housing and allow 1,750 households to build or improve their homes through targeted housing finance and technical assistance. By the end of the program, 7,875 Haitians are expected to occupy new or improved houses. During the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2016, the HOME program focused on developing the HOME Facility and generating public awareness around it. A series of external events with actors of the housing value chain in Haiti were organized by HOME in Port-Au-Prince and Cap Haitian, attended by more than 65 people. The HOME team also attended business networking events and sector interest group meetings held at Unité de Construction de Logements et de Bâtiments Publics (ULBP) and L'Entreprise Publique de Promotion de Logements Sociaux (EPPLS), the Government of Haiti entities that deal with affordable housing matters. The HOME team received 46 expressions of interest (EOIs) for the HOME Facility within the two-week deadline, representing the entire spectrum of eligible parties and USAID geographic corridors. Thirty percent of the EOIs received came from actors with whom the HOME team had met. Concept notes were processed by the HOME team within two weeks on a competitive basis, and eight applicants were shortlisted for Fast-track, 32 were selected to receive the full request for proposal (RFP), and six were rejected. The HOME program's objectives include building or improving houses for target Haitian households through finance tools/products offered by HOME and encouraging Participating Financial Intermediaries (PFIs) to issue housing finance loans, including mortgages, to target groups of Haitian households. The program's work plan for the next quarter (January – March 2016) includes submission of the Year 1 Work Plan to USAID, submission of the HOME Facility Manual to USAID, and issuance of a request for expressions of interest.