SHELTER FOR THE URBAN POOR

Host agencies will request specific program aid and will in turn contribute local resources. In Honduras, FCH will help the National Housing Institute, the Honduran Federation of Housing Cooperatives, and the Municipal Council of the Central District of Tegucigalpa shift their programs, as part of a national policy, toward sites and services in an effort to direct housing sector resources to the poor. Specific FCH assistance will be in developing sites and services projects for low-income families, along with mortgage procedures for these projects; and developing guidelines for community organization and development programs, methods for expanding core housing, and establishment of a land bank. In Jamaica, FCH will help the Jamaica Mortgage Bank develop guidelines for a program to redesign and upgrade slum areas and for financial management of the program; and for socioeconomic, employment-generation, and job training opportunity surveys. FCH will also assist the Sites and Services and Urban Upgrading Unit of the Ministry of Housing develop project management guidelines, techniques of program promotion, and training programs for project participants. Finally, FCH will help the Jamaica Co-Op Credit Union League establish guidlines for its home improvement loan system. In Peru, FCH will help the National Bank of Peru and a select savings and loan develop home improvement loan programs for the poor. In these programs, FCH will work with community-based organizations to ensure local participation in urban infrastructural decisions; promote self-help construction and employment-generating activities such as loans for small businesses and vocational training programs; and develop local technical service organizations to help manage the new projects. FCH technical assistance will be complemented by country workshops for the staffs of participating institutions.