HOUSING PROJECT: VIVIENDAS HOGAR DE CRISTO (VHC)

Introdcution: Viviendas del Hogar de Cristo (VHC) is a Christian NGO based in Guayaquil, which uses 300,000 bamboo culms annually for the construction of low-cost housing. VHC has been in existance for 30 years and has produced more than 60,000 houses. VHC has developed its own method of producing low cost housing from Guadua bamboo that is both extremely rapid and very cheap. VHC is heavily involved in the first part of INBARs Action Research Project in Ecuador. The VHC hacienda is used as a training base for trainers that will themselves train others in the Santo Domingo project, as well as to train local farmers. Evaluations of the best management practices of Guadua are being conducted there, and the results will be used in Santo Domingo. INBAR is also assisting VHC trial the use of bamboo matboard in their houses.

The necessity for low cost housing in Guayaquil is outlined below:

1. The housing deficit in Guayaquil is 150, 000 houses, and is increasing by 12, 000 every year.
2. Guayaquil is surrounded by a belt of poverty that includes 75% of the population of the city and faces a serious housing problem due to large-scale immigration.
3. About 30.000 people emigrate from the countryside to the city every year.
4. Settlements have been constructed on marginal lands that are part of mountains or hills to the northeast of the city and on the shore of estuaries in the southeast causing environmental damage.
5. Many people have settled on swampy, dangerous lands without any authorization and with no water and sewage system.
6. 60% of the houses in Guayaquil lack water and sewage systems.
7. 30% of the houses do not have access to electricity.
8. Migration to different cities in Ecuador has caused serious social problems and increased the existence of marginal sectors where it is possible to find "houses" of 6m2, where people live in misery and poverty.
9. At present, hundreds of families live packed in small rooms. Two or three families live in one room of about 12 m2 rented in the city, with no basic services, around a central yard of the building.
10. It is calculated that in 1997 and 1998, during the presence of phenomenom El Ni?o, more than 300.000 people migrated from the countryside to cities.
11. Thousands of people sleep on the streets.
    Peasants emigrate to find a job and have a better life.
    Land traders, sometimes unscrupulous people, take advantage of the housing problem and at same time invade private or municipal lands, increasing the marginal areas of Guayaquil.
12. VHC sells ninety-nine percent of its houses to women, who are considered to take more care of the welfare of the house and family, and half of these women run a female-headed household. A rigid selection procedure is responsible for selecting the poorest of the poor, and the conditions of reimbursement.. If reimbursement would burden the welfare of the family too much, VHC funds he houset from its charitable funds.

The education levels of VHC's clients is very low: 10% are illiterate, 70% have only primary education and 30% have attended secondary school. Many clients are jobless, but most single mothers receive a social welfare of US$11 a month and US$4 for housing, which they can use for example to pay for the house of VHC. Of those in work 77% earn an average of US$20 per month while their basic needs to survive are around US$150 per month and for a reasonable subsistence US$225. Under the present economic circumstances in Ecuador, people need at least three jobs to earn themselves a living.

VHC has three manufacturing plants and 12 offices in Ecuador's coastal region and is the leading NGO in Ecuador for social housing. The charity has a direct interest in managing and preserving Guadua bamboo in order to maintain its resource base for houses. The bamboo houses built by Hogar de Cristo received the 'World Habitat Award' in 1995 and are one of the most cost effective and cheap designs of housing that INBAR has seen.

The Guayaquil plant has a capacity of 50 houses a day and is visited daily by many potential clients. The plant consists of three units:

- Social and financial division
- Purchase and storage of primary material
- Production and delivery of houses

The process

The process of acquiring a house takes about four to six weeks.

1) Most potential clients are first informed about the existence of VHC and the houses by neighbours or family members who have a VHC house.

2) The potential clients visit VHC for the first time where they receive an brief introduction to VHC and the the low-cost bamboo housing it offers.

3) Potential clients visit the information room (in the model VHC house) and are informed about what to expect from the house, from VHC's services and about the criteria for buying a house.

- low income/ poor family
- (many) children
- possession of a plot of land and registration by a colonisation co-operative who helps them to legalise the land
- sufficient income to guarantee they can pay back the cost of the house in three years at US$4 per month
- a contact person in case of difficulties or emergencies

4) Then they have a personal interview with one of the social workers. A socio-economic questionnaire is filled in with basic information about the household, their living situation, land tenure, the number of children, relations, type of job(s) income etc. If they have the required papers with them, copies are made and they set an appointment or a home visit of one of the fieldworkers of VHC. The more serious their situation the faster the process. The higher their number of children and the lower their income, the higher their priority.

5) The fieldworker verifies the socio-economic data collected during the interview and discusses the next steps and required data and papers with the client.

6) The contract is signed in the VHC office. An initial fee of US$15-20 is paid and an appointment is made for collection of the house.

7) The client comes to VHC to collect the house, and pays the transport and construction workers costs themselves. In many cases neighbours or family members with experience does the construction.

The overall costs of the house is US$350, (though since this document was written the cost has risen to $450). The government subsidises this to the tune of US$144 (housing subsidy of US$4 per month for three years). The client has to cover 186US$, which is US$4 - 5 per month by payment direct at VHCs offices or via a bank. The advantage of paying at VHC is that the client can simultaneously receive medical attention and lunch for themselves and their youngest children, subsidised by the government. They can pay with their social welfare of US$11 per month or other income and in some cases are supported by VHC's charitable funds.

Currently VHC has 16,000 clients that are paying on a monthly basis for their houses. Eighty percent pay every month, and some of these people pay several months in advance. Twenty percent of payments are delayed, while only 1-2% default on payments completely.

Families who do not pay, are visited in the house by the social/field workers or surged on indications of their contact/reference person. Their situation is analysed to find out why they do not pay and a solution is sought. Their payment can be delayed for some time in case of temporal financial problems. In rare cases VHC uses money of their own capital.

Peoples' main incentive to pay in time is that they want the house to be their own and they are stimulated to take responsibility for the payment and to become independent owners. The women feel in general responsible and are also influenced by the social control of their community and women organisations. Another incentive is a good reputation within VHC and access to the services and socio-economic support they can offer. VHC has a plan to introduce another incentive in he form of a discount for people who pay in time.

The house

The standard house has a size of 4.80 by 4.80 meters.
The house is prefabricated in the factory of VHC. A packet is made of :
- 8 panels for the walls (3.20 by 2.50)
- wooden boards for the floor, the door and 3 windows
- 9 wooden pillars
- roof sheets
- nails

The primary material exists of:

- pre-processed bamboo for the walls
- mangrove wood for the pillars
- tropical hardwood for the floor doors and windows
- zinc for the roof

The walls of the house are made of opened and flattened bamboo strips (Cana picada). The species used is Guadua angustifolia from different locations on the coast (mostly from Empalme), exploited from natural forests, harvested from Guadua plots on private farmland, and a very small portion from VHC's own 30 hectare Guadua plantation. In the field the bamboo culms are opened by spitting them longitudinally and are transported to the factory by truck in this state before being cut into strips 3 meters long. These are used for the panels. Each house needs 32 pieces of Cana picada 3 meters long, and 20 latillas, which are small strips of bamboo used to fix the bamboo mats on the wooden frame. The price of the Cana picada is US$1 (US$32 per house).

The quality of the bamboo is a problem because no selection takes place of guadua plants for exploitation. There is no quality control in the field. The material comes from young, old and even degrading (dry) plants. In addition the raw material is becoming scarce. There is little management of the resource base and the exploitation methods are inappropriate and destructive. Local farmers rarely cultivate bamboo.

The bamboo for the panels is not treated against insects or decay, in order not to raise the price, but the clients are advised to do so once they have errected their houses with some simple and cheap methods, combining diesel, oil and some insecticide. Because the houses become more permanent solutions for the poor, treatment is indispensable.

Wood

The wood arrives in the form of long boards in trucks from Esmeraldas. In the factory it is classified and processed into the standard parts for the floors, doors and windows. No treatment is applied.

Mangrove

Mangrove wood for the pillars is purchased from small merchants who harvest it from the mangrove forest in the estuary, and bring it by boat or canoe to the small river port at the factory. The long poles are cut into different sizes, for low and high houses. The height depends on the location of the houses on land or along the estuary above the water, and the steepness of the land. Most people prefer higher poles so they have space below to keep domestic animals and build additional rooms.

The labourers (paneleros) work 6 hours a day and produce 25 panels of 3.20m by 2.50m.

They receive US$150 per month (which is a very good salary in Ecuador today). The pneumatic hammers have been introduced recently and make the work easier and faster. As a result less labour is needed and the price of the house can be kept stable.

Full details of the production of a VHC house, including drawings, are available in the INBAR Transfer of Technology Model on "Low-cost bamboo houses", produced by VHC.

Much of the information on this page has been kindly supplied by VHC