Argentine President Mauricio Macri announced Monday in Buenos Aires the expansion of the Procreate Plan, a social housing program launched by the previous administration, with a new line of credit that the government expects will cover the building of decent homes for more than 25,000 families.
“We want to resolve an issue that affects millions of Argentines today as a result of the systemic instability of previous years,” the Argentine president said during an event in the capital, at which he inaugurated the first works financed by the program’s expansion.
With an investment of 5 billion pesos ($312 million), the Argentine government has given new momentum to the plan launched in 2012 by the Cristina Kirchner administration (2007-2015) and corrected the way loans are assigned.
“We wanted to improve the plan by replacing the lottery system with a clear, fair points system that favors those who need it most,” the president said, adding that his administration is showing that whatever worked under previous governments “will continue.”
“The lottery was transparent but it wasn’t fair” since it didn’t give priority to those most in need, Macri said during the event at which he was accompanied by Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio, Social Security chief Emilio Basavilbaso, and the city’s Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta.
The president said that his intention is for every Argentine family earning two minimum wages to be able to save and have a decent home, rights that form part of the “zero poverty” goal he established upon taking office.