S. Domingo, announces a consortium in support of land titling and housing plans

The aforementioned consortium was initially formed by the Council of Malaga, Spain, the Andalucian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI), the Network of Local Authority Forums (RED FAL) and non-governmental organisations Ospaal Solidarity, IEPALA and the Movement for Peace (MPDL).

Juan Carlos Espejo from the Movement for Peace, MPDL, giving declarations about objectives in front of the media

These institutions were in the country to accomplish these goals between Tuesday 14 March and Sunday 19 July on a mission to identify the housing situation and land titling difficulties that affect a large population in the National District and the Province of Santo Domingo.

After midday on Wednesday 15 July the European institutions met with a cross-party committee appointed by the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the lawyer Julio César Valentín, and formed by Pedro Jiménez (Tito) of PLD and Rafael Calderón (PRD) with whom they talked. They were accompanied by community institutions comprising the Network of Popular Urban Coordination, the Housing Cooperative COOPHABITAT and institutions from the civil Dominican society - Alternative City and Centre Motalvo.

The Mission, an initiative of the Council of Malaga and FAMSI, arose from core collaboration between RED FAL, local European governments and the International Alliance for Inhabitants (IAI). This arose within the framework of union rights and international cooperation and was an asset to the member of IAI in the Dominican Republic (COOPHABITAT) who had started actions for the right to housing and emerging alternatives to land titling, self-managed housing construction projects and access to land for the most needy inhabitants. Many of them, in Santo Domingo, had been evicted. This was the central identifying factor for which the mission was constituted and those invited such as the NGOs Movement for Peace, MPDL, IEPALA and Ospaaal Solidarity participated in this cooperation.

José Manuel Luque (Pita) talks on behalf of the Network of Local European Authority Forums

The European institutions showed their interest in overcoming the situation in which there is a lack of secure housing for a large Dominican population as can be seen by the large number of families that have built their own houses on state or private land. The institutions indicated that this could begin to be addressed if a fund was created so that the population could access land titling in order to construct and improve social housing. According to studies the housing deficit in the country surpasses 800,000 units, more than 75% is self-constructed and the majority of families in the National District and the province of Santo Domingo do not have land titling when building their own housing. This constitutes a grave social problem and a real lack of confidence in the formation of Dominican democracy.

Since 1990 organisations of the ONU, like the Committee for Economic Rights, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Advisory Group of the ONU on Evictions (AGFE) in 2005 have shown their concerns about the Dominican State because of the huge number of evictions carried out by the country, and, in addition, its destruction and demolition of houses. Families remain abandoned, without being relocated, which is contrary to General Observations IV and VII and the objective of the Economics, Social and Cultural Right Pact.

“European cooperation is responding in a positive manner to advance the national interest with concrete and real solutions to the problem of the necessity of land titles and secure housing. We should salute all Dominicans beginning with the State”, says Pedro Franco, member of the AGFE group formed by the ONU.

Victor Morales, representative for Ospaaal Solidarity

The Cross-Party Commission undertook to administer the item placed on the agenda of the Chamber of Deputies, the Housing Law, Housing and Human Settlements presented by the Urban Popular Network and COOPHABITAT by the Deputies Yudelka de la Rosa and Josefa Castillo with the purpose of initiating discussion.

The Interdisciplinary Commission agreed to insure with the central government the placing on the National Budget interdisciplinary funds the construction of a housing project by the Friendly Society. This would allow for the relocation of 77 evicted families in the Los Angeles de Via Esfuerzo sector in March 2005. According to the agreements made by the state, the government of the Province of Santo Domingo, the town hall of Santo Domingo East and the Porcella Family with the AGFE Group of the ONU during 2008 the state placed 8,300,000 pesos in the hands of SEOPC, but these funds could not be applied owing to existing legal action between the Porcella family and the town hall of Santo Domingo East.

Andrés Falck, Director of the Office of International Cooperation announces the support of 40 million Dominican pesos for the construction of the project presented by COOPHABITAT. This is for the relocation of 77 evicted families in Villa Esfuerzo in Santo Domingo East. The project will be technically assessed by Ciudad Alternative, Centro Montalvo and Cedail.

The European Cooperation Mission met with the same understandings of that of the Juan de los Santos de Santo Domingo Este, with that of Máximo Soriano of the Municipal District of Caleta and the chapterhouse of the same, with the engineer Idelfonso Vásquez, Govenor of the Province of Santo Domingo, with the Federation of the Dominican Municipalities (FEDOMU), CONARE and the Administration of National Assets. They also visited the localities of the North of the Nacional District, Los 3 Brazos, Los Mina, Isabelita, Valiente, La Caleta, Santa Lucía and Villa Esfuerzo.

Support for the construction of the Villa Esfuerzo Project announced

The institutions of cooperation announced their readiness to support the COOPHABITAT project for Mutual Help Housing with 40 million pesos. This is to relocate the 77 families of Villa Esfuerzo and others without homes from the municipalities of Santo Domingo East and Boca Chica, thus demonstrating their interest in contributing to a solution to the global problem.

Juan Carlos Peláez de IEPALA talks with members of the Assembly of COOPHABITAT and community organisations

The announcement was made the previous Sunday on the 19th of the month by Andrés Falck, Director of the Office for Cooperation of the Council of Malaga, during a gathering of different representative communities, executed by CONARE.

“As has been said in the National Congress, the state started putting the necessary funds in the national budget to start the project. We, the organisations of cooperation announce the readiness to support the project of relocating the families with 40 million Dominican pesos”.

Before the announcement the participants, including those from Villa Esfuerzo, received with great enthusiasm the announcement of the European institutions.

The Mutual Help Housing Project of Villa Esfuerzo had been approached by the Cooperative for the Construction of Social Housing, COOPHABITAT, with technical support and Gestión de Ciudad Alternativa, Centro Montalvo y Cadail.

COOPERATIVA DE PRODUCCIÓN SOCIAL DE LA VIVIENDA Y EL HÁBITAT

(Cooperative for Social Housing Construction and the Housing Association)
-COOPHABITAT-
Villa Las Américas, Esq. C/ 13, Frente al Hospital Darío Contreras,
Santo Domingo Este, República Dominicana * Tel. 809 788 6932 * REGISTRO LEGAL: 276-08
Communications Department

Virgen Féliz, Presidente of the Neighbourhood Committee, expreses to Andrés Falck of the Council of Malaga, his gratitude to the community of Los Ángeles de Villa Esfuerzo for the support announced. Victor Morales de Ospaaal Solidarity holds up a poster of thanks that has been handmade by inhabitants.

Some of the public meet with the Mission.

Pedro Franco from the International Alliance for Inhabitants (IAI) together with representatives of social organisations and COOPHABITAT express the promise of institutions to demonstrate their worthiness of international solidarity administered from Villa Esfuerzo in an experimental model that could be reproduced and serve as an example for future public political housing and habitation.

Francis Jorge of the Commission for the Contributory Budget of FEDOMU and CONARE give thanks to the Cooperative Institutions for the support that they have made to the country.

Santos de la Cruz del Centro Montalvo demonstrates the promise brought by the institution that represents the Ciudad Alternativa with COOPHABITAT and the implementation of the Villa Esfuerzo project