Vivienda Digna (Fundación Sagrada Familia)
Vivienda Digna is a non-profit organization with the mission to contribute to the promotion of people and the consolidation of families, by means of programs that facilitate access to appropriate habitat and decent housing. The area of intervention is the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires and other areas of the country. The different projects foster definitive and quality housing conditions, accessible public spaces, along with improved infrastructure and services
The organization works on housing deficit from an integral point of view. In Argentina the housing deficit reaches 3.800.000 of homes. Out of 46 million of inhabitants, 19 million do not have access to adequate housing. Housing deficit means not only lack of access to the house or scarcity, but also the lack of services and basic infrastructure, among others.
In 45 years, Vivienda Digna has had an impact on more than 43000 families, through a new, effective and proven model, with the community commitment and three main lines of action: Micro credits, Social Building supply store, and Habitat and participation.
The first, dated from 1994, boosts building improvement, by granting group micro credits with joint guarantee and technical advice by architects.
The Social Building Supply Store, founded in 2004, is a self-sustaining program acting as a bond between those who possess building supplies and equipment or devices to donate and those who need them. It enables people in need of those materials to buy them at a minimum price. It provides workshops in self-building and technical and social assistance. Today, it has four branches in different areas of Buenos Aires. In Habitat and Participation, area where the proposal to be submit is designed, there are many projects being carried out. Some of them, with the goal of making it possible for the families to have access to their own house; others having the aim of improving or creating neighborhood equipment, such as playgrounds or multi use halls. Fundamental aspects of the projects: Self effort and mutual help, participation as the central idea for the development of the projects, community work, and social and technical advice. In some projects, the families reimburse part of the invested into their homes or in improvements for the houses, in installments adapted to time and possibility promoting sustainability.
The organization works with other social actors. It actively participates in different forums and places to achieve the modification and creation of public policies that foster decent environments: Social Sector forum, the forum of the organization of Land, infrastructure and housing of the Province of Buenos Aires. The articulation between different actors and sectors enables the development and precision of complex and multi-dimensional projects. Examples of these alliances are the work done with the Nation Under Secretary of Housing, the Ministry of Infrastructure of the Province of Buenos Aires, the municipality of Pilar, Cáritas Argentina, and RACI, RADIM, among others. From the private sector, the companies cooperate with building supplies, and financial support, and also with voluntary work (Ford, Acindar, Shap, ICBC, Patagonia Bank, Mercado Libre, Accenture).
This coordination with other actors is a sign of mutual help for the recipients and considers the city as a place where the main characters are the neighbors themselves, who become aware of their rights and responsibilities
Support Our Work
Programs
-
Proyectos de hábitat y participación
We develop projects designed to promote access to land and housing final, with community work methodology.
-
Microcréditos
Work with them families that live in housing deficit, through microcredit group with warranty solidarity to it improves or enlargement of its housing.
-
Sume Materiales
We are a link between persons or companies that are building materials and furnishings that are no longer used and families who need to improve their home.