No End in Sight for Venezuela’s Housing Crisis

In April 2011, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez embarked on an ambitious mission, promising to build two million homes by 2017. The housing crisis has been for years a top-of-mind issue for Venezuelans. After the devastating 2010 rainy season, at least 140,000 Venezuelans lost their homes due to torrential rains and landslides. While that was a contributing factor to the current housing crisis, experts also attribute Venezuela’s shortage of affordable housing to Mr. Chavez’s own lack of leadership in addressing the issue. The Venezuelan Construction Chamber calculates that the housing deficit has grown from 1.1 million homes to 2 million homes during Chávez’s presidency. According to the chamber, 284,000 homes were built between 1999 and 2010 – down sharply from 490,000 homes constructed by governments from 1989-98. The government is not even trying to deny this. The National Institute of Statistics estimates the housing deficit at more than 2.5 million homes.
A survey conducted by the Venezuelan polling firm Datanálisis last may shows that 52% of Venezuelans do not believe the government will be able to deliver on its so-called “Great Housing Mission” promise. A vast majority of Venezuelans – 80% – also believe that the private sector has an important role to play in finding a solution for the housing crisis. Yet, not surprisingly, the Chávez government refuses to allow any involvement from Venezuela’s entrepreneurs.

Another major issue slowing down the construction of homes is the ever more frequent blackouts that plague more than half of Venezuela. The constant blackouts not only halt construction operations but also disrupt the production and distribution of construction materials. As part of the recent energy crackdown, all entities have to go through a lengthy process, which can take up to four months, to get the proper authorization from the Chávez government to build. In the meantime, homeless Venezuelans keep waiting – in the dark.