Costa Ricans Building Their Own Home With Government Assistance.

Fundacion Promotora de la Vivienda – FUPROVI.

Usually getting your own home only happens after years of saving and sacrifice. But when the owner gets involved in building the house, the dream of home ownership can come true and at a savings.

The foundation that promotes community efforts in building homes (Fundacion Promotora de la Vivienda – FUPROVI) says that you don’t have to be an engineer or foreman to have your own home, you just need the desire and the willingness to organize. The foundation has helped build 92 homes to date.

Habitat for Humanity also promotes this kind of activity and has built 595 homes here.

Assisted construction is when the owner and the foundation work together to build the house. This can range from providing labor to helping with financing and materials. It’s assisted because construction professionals help out. But the main support comes from people in the community where the new homes are being built. They organize and decide who should get training and in what area of construction.

First the community contacts FUPROVI, which then investigates the feasibility of the plan, including organizational capacity of the community, solvency, and expertise in the field of construction.

Once they decide to build, an engineer in charge of the project, who will direct the work along with a community coordinator, trains the community. Community members commit to so many hours of work. Each worker helps on all the houses. No one knows which house is going to be theirs. This streamlines the work and creates solidarity among neighbors.

Some jobs are not the community’s responsibility such as electrical and plumbing work.
The difference with Habitat for Humanity is that with Habitat outside volunteers also help out.

Financing: Assisted construction projects are generally financed through programs that offer credit possibilities, reasonable repayment terms and low monthly rates.

Habitat’s loans are not more than US$5,000, without counting land value. Monthly payments are usually about $50. FUPROVI offers a bridge loan that helps get a long-term loan from financial institutions.

Our thanks to Cynthia Briceño and our friends at La Nación – Costa Rica’s largest Spanish circulation newspaper for their permission use this article.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.