Gustavo Petro’s government finally cleared up doubts about the housing program that this Administration will manage. Yesterday the head of the Ministry of Housing, Catalina Velasco, confirmed that the Mi Casa Ya subsidy program will be continued, which has been in force since 2015, but she also indicated that its structure will change, since from now on benefits will be assigned according to the sisbén and no longer by income level.
(Read: These are the changes that the Mi Casa Ya subsidy program will have).
In the In the last eight years, 233,547 subsidies have been disbursed through Mi Casa Ya. According to Velasco, the ministry carried out a diagnosis of the program, and after also taking into consideration the conclusions of the binding regional dialogues that were held for the construction of the National Development Plan, and also the vision of the Government, the communities, the construction companies, compensation funds and financing entities, it was decided to change the allocation criteria.
“We will use the Sisbén survey as the allocation mechanism. The second criterion that we will use is to favor category 4, 5 and 6 municipalities with a priority score so that families who decide to buy their new home in these municipalities have a greater chance of acquiring the subsidy.”, said the Minister.
In addition, he announced that households that purchase homes in the rural sectorl They will be awarded an additional score for the grant allocation processPriority will be given to priority interest housing (VIP), which is below 90 minimum wages, and to victim families.
“Good things can always improve, we trust the Mi Casa Ya program, we maintain it and we will make some improvements so that it directly reaches the most vulnerable families and the entire national territory”, indicated the official.
(Also: How to apply to the new housing subsidy model of Mi Casa Ya).
Velasco confirmed that the Government will invest $1.5 billion this year to deliver 50,000, and that the allocation will begin in April. It is worth mentioning that Camacol, the builders’ union, projected an allocation of more than 60,000 subsidies for this year.
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Currently, the Mi Casa Ya benefit has the following requirements: the beneficiary has not received any other housing or coverage subsidywho is not the owner of another home in the country, it is taken into account that family income does not exceed four current legal monthly minimum wages (smmlv), and that the home to be purchased is new in urban areas.
Among the aids contemplated today with the program is a subsidy to the initial fee, or also a benefit of coverage to the interest rate. According to the minister, this last element will be maintained bearing in mind the current situation of increase in credit rates.
“We are going to maintain the two categories, granting 20 minimum wages and 30 minimum wages, and rate coverage, but we are also going to give it a rural approach, they will be assigned monthly by groups and batches and the six criteria will be qualified and given to those who have higher score in this list”, clarified the Minister.
The biggest change then comes from the allocation model. The program will grant a subsidy for the initial fee for an amount that will depend on the Sisbén group in which the interested household is classified.
(Read: Citizen Income: how this subsidy will work and who will benefit).
According to Minvivienda, in urban areas, households classified between groups A1 and C7 of the Sisbén will receive a subsidy of 30 current legal monthly minimum wages for the payment of their initial fee, while families between groups C8 and D11 will receive a subsidy of 20 smmlv.
In rural areas, the coverage will be 30 minimum wages for households between groups A1 and C14 of Sisbén, and 20 salaries for those between C15 and D20.
In relation to the interest rate coverage benefit, which aims to reduce the monthly installments that must be paid by those who have a mortgage loan or housing lease for seven years, the benefit will be maintained in the way it currently operates, with coverage of 5 percentage points in priority interest housing and a coverage of 4 percentage points in the VIS.
“We are using a new measurement system, because we believe it is much more effective, to avoid leaks“said the Minister.
(Read: Guaranteed Minimum Income: step to find out if you received transfers).
Among the elements that the Ministry evaluated to change the program is that only 3% of the hHouseholds benefited from Mi Casa Ya earn less than one minimum wage, and 52% of the subsidies assigned They are concentrated in only 10 municipalities and that in 793 of 1,123 municipalities one of these aids has never been assigned. In addition, Velasco criticized that the subsidies only go to urban areas.
The Minister said that another problem with the current system is the high concentration of subsidies in a few players, since around 38% of these have been delivered only to the 10 largest construction companies, while the rest (62%) have been assigned to the others, which are about 2,800.
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