Sustaintable popular housing
to expand rightsSustaintable Housing Improvement.
Energy efficiency and care for the
enviromentFair housing, social inclusion,
health, training for work with
gender equity

On Thursday, May 19th, Weatherizers Without Borders – WWB, together with FOVISEE Foundation organized for the first time, in Argentina, the “Latin American Conference on Housing, Energy and Sustainability” (CLAVES). CLAVES is a space for the exchange of public policy programs and experiences among leading Habitat and Environment officials from Latin America. Within this framework, WWB proposes the concepts of “Fair Housing” and “Sustainable Affordable Housing” to the region’s countries. High-level authorities and experts from the Ministries of Housing of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and the United States attended the meeting.

CLAVES Argentina 2022 – Fair Housing

This article presents the activities that took place during the three days of the CLAVES 2022 meeting. In chronological order we share testimonies, presentations, photos and videos of the participants.

The context brought to the foreground during the conference is the housing crisis that affects some 60 million people who live in “unfair housing”. It is estimated that in Latin America the housing deficit is 94% qualitative and 6% quantitative; one out of three families in Latin America and the Caribbean lives in inadequate housing, built with precarious materials or lacking basic services, which puts their health at risk. The best solution to this deficit is the prompt and massive implementation of a Latin American Sustainable Housing Improvement Program.

THURSDAY, MAY 19th

Cecilia Todesca Bocco, National Secretary of International Economic Relations; Christian Asinelli, Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming of CAF-Development Bank of Latin America; Adriana Turek, Representative of Citi Foundation in Argentina; and Baltazar Ojea, Vice President of FOVISEE Foundation and Coordinator of CLAVES 2022 participated in the meeting’s opening panel.

CHRISTIAN ASINELLI

CAF Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming

Latin American experiences panel

Among the participants in the different panels were the Vice Ministers of Housing of Ecuador, Gabriela Aguilera; of Chile, Tatiana Rojas Leiva; of Peru, Carmen Cecilia Lecaros Vertiz; Colombia’s Director of Rural Housing, Brasilia Romero Sinisterra; and the Mexican Director of Territorial Information Analysis for the Follow-up of Housing Programs, Daniel González Escobar. Argentina was represented by the National Secretary of Socio-Urban Integration, Fernanda Miño; the National Secretary of Territorial Development, Luciano Scatolini; and the Mayor of Mercedes, Juan Ignacio Ustarroz, among others.

TATIANA ROJAS

Undersecretary of Housing and Urbanism of Chile

GABRIELA AGUILERA

Vice Minister of Urban Development and Housing of Ecuador

CARMEN CECILIA LECAROS VERTIZ

Vice Minister of Housing, Construction and Sanitation of Peru

BRASILIA ROMERO SINISTERRA

Director of Rural Housing. Ministry of Housing, City and Territory of Colombia

DANIEL GONZALEZ ESCOBAR

Director of Territorial Analysis and Monitoring of Housing Programs from Mexico

Argentine experiences panel

Closing of the conference

The day’s closing event was led by Nicolás Maggio, President of WWB and FOVISEE; Mark Jackson, Vice President of WWB and Community Housing Partners Energy Solutions and of the USA; Ángel Cárdenas Sosa, Manager of Urban Development and Creative Economies of CAF; and Cecilia Nicolini, Secretary of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation of Argentina.

CECILIA NICOLINI

Secretary of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation of Argentina

ÁNGEL CÁRDENAS SOSA

Manager of Urban Development and Creative Economies of CAF

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20th

During the meeting’s second day field visits took place. On the morning of May 20th, the Mayor of Mercedes, Juan Ignacio Ustarroz, hosted a working breakfast for the international delegation at the Sustainable Housing Information Center of Mercedes (CIVIS, an initiative developed by FOVISEE Foundation, Citi Foundation and the local Municipality). Participants later visited some of the city’s low-income neighborhoods where the three organizations are developing a sustainable housing improvement program.

CIVIS is a public center for technical and social support, free of charge and open to all city residents. It also manages the programs that FOVISEE and the municipal government develop jointly:

  • Sustainable Housing Improvement Program
  • Instructions Manual for the Sustainable Use of Homes
  • Campaign to Prevent Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
  • Training in Construction Work

The CIVIS has an interactive space for demonstrations, where visitors can see and use technologies to understand the movement of energy (heat) in the home, condensation processes, air infiltration, etc.

SATURDAY, MAY 21st

The meeting’s agenda continued with a field visit to the Patagonian city of San Carlos de Bariloche, where participants visited the low-income neighborhood of El Alto, and took place in an on-site diagnosis of household sustainability and sustainable housing improvement. WWB, together with FOVISEE, Citi Foundation and other partners has performed more than 600 home energy audits and more than 500 weatherization works in homes in low income areas of Patagonia.

Finally, they toured the Sustainable Homes Training Center developed by WWB, FOVISEE and Citi Foundation in Bariloche.