Thread: Patrimonio Hoy--Affordable Housing in Mexico

Patrimonio Hoy
http://www.cemex.com/su/su_so_hi.asp
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n24266746

Since 1998, CEMEX conceived the Patrimonio Hoy initiative which has helped low-income families improve their homes. This program was initiated with the objective of reducing the Mexican housing deficit, which leaves more than 20 million people with inadequate shelter. It provides quality products on low-cost credit at fixed prices, as well as technical building advice. Patrimonio Hoy organizes low-income families into self-financing cells that facilitate and expedite the typical home-building process. So far, credits for 83 million US dollars have been granted, with an on-time payment rate of more than 99%.

In 2007, the program continued to expand in South America. We now have over 100 centers and have served more than 208,000 families in Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The idea is to assess the potential replication of Patrimonio Hoy in other markets where CEMEX operates and where the socio-economic conditions could make possible its financial viability.

In 2006 Patrimonio Hoy received a World Business Award from the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Prince of Wales International Business Leader's Forum (IBLF), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). In 2007 it received the Corporate Citizen of the Americas Award from the development organization the Trust for the Americas.
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One of our priorities is to find innovative ways to increase access to our products for economically vulnerable customers that need them to improve their homes.

We initiate, fund, and manage projects to enhance communities' quality of life, primarily by helping low-income families to build or improve their homes. Our approach aims to align the values and commercial objectives of our business with the needs of communities.

Since 1998, our Patrimonio Hoy initiative has helped low-income families improve their homes. It provides quality products on low-cost credit and at fixed prices, as well as technical building advice. After its launch in Mexico, this program has expanded to Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Venezuela and received the World Business Award and the Corporate Citizen of the Americas Awards.

We also support housing improvements through the establishment of productive centers organized as cooperatives, in which communities manufacture the building blocks they need to gradually improve their houses. In addition, they are able to sell the remaining production for reinvestment.

With this program, CEMEX shares its expertise and provides the portable equipment, training, and building materials (cement and sand). The community contributes their self-construction work and receives support from governments and NGOs. In this way, we keep helping to reduce the housing deficit and improve the quality of life of families in Latin America.



Mexico now has the manufacturing capability for cement board products--the latest innovation in durable, sustainable home exterior finishes. It has a mild climate. It has oil revenue. Moreover, the Meditteranean tradition of building prevails in Mexico and Latin America: natural stone products, clay, stucco, tile--all things well suited for durability in a warm sunny climate. Labor is inexpensive. Petroleum is cheap and abundant. Agriculture has a very long growing season.

What more do they need?

This is an excellent program and I was in touch with them for a while but there would be more of a beneficial effect if the immigrants and their beneficiaries were building productive assets instead of houses first. If they are living in the country they should build barns and silos. If they are urban dwellers they should build warehouses and factory shells. Then once they have a financial foundation within their original home country they might consider building the houses there.

I have been working on the issue of affordable housing in developing countries for some time. I wish I knew how I could get it across to our liberal Congressmen that there really is no need for anyone in a country such as Mexico to be living in poverty.

The cement board product is widely used now in the United States and is a lot better than some of the wood products that came out in recent years. And in sheets it is a perfect substitute for adobe and stucco. So, not surprisingly there are at least a couple of manufacturers located now in Mexico.

With some groups calling for a massive reinvestment in infrastructure in the US (in large part to accomodate our increasing population) that could run into the trillions of dollars----it is easy for me, at least, to see that investing in certain manufacturing facilities in these developing countries could be done for just a small fraction of that estimate. The cost of building a manufacturing facility should be far less in Latin America because the labor cost is much less. One billion dollars (1/1000th of a trillion) would probably build at least a hundred manufacturing facilities for various products.

A recent report called for an $11 Trillion investment in US infrastructure. How quickly do we want to commit national suicide, anyway?