With CIS Solidarity Partners, we transform
deplorable living conditions into
DIGNIFIED HOUSING.
130 new dignified homes
with legal title to the land, electricity, potable water and sewage systems since 2016.
It took 10 years of residents and CIS partners meeting persistently with the Government to secure the legal titles to their land in the Romero community.
Accomplishments:
65 dignified homes built in Romero community in 2015-2016
65 dignified homes built in Paso Puente in 2019-2020 with Homes for the Heart and the Salvadoran Government -- 54 of which were completed before Tropical Storm Amanda hit in late May 2020
Land purchased and donated for drilling the potable water system for the 153 homes in Paso Puente Community
A community library, youth center, training center and playground
“
We sleep in fear because our shelter is insecure. We are marginalized by those who say only delinquents and thieves live in shantytowns. I have had to study in deplorable conditions. My notebooks, books, and important materials have gotten wet and been ruined. The whole community has to share one water faucet and it takes all day to fill a barrel of water. We have lived this way for 18 years. A dignified home will mean a better life and better studies. We cannot afford to build our own homes, so this project is an enormous blessing.”
- Miriam Merino, Community Member, Romero Community
25% of Salvadorans have no access to sanitation facilities with plumbing. *
Rising unemployment and income inequality in El Salvador are making living and housing conditions even more precarious. Poverty levels are expected to increase from 34% to over 40% in 2020 **
Thousands live in homes without title to their land. This includes families who have been fighting for legal title to lands where they live since they resettled decades ago, after being displaced by civil war, natural disasters, or gang violence.
We did not set out to be an NGO that specializes in home-building. Charity handouts are not our model.
Instead, we use a model of solidarity to partner with families living in extreme poverty who want to replace their makeshift shelters with sturdy homes with running water.
The partner families in a community are equal partners. They dedicate their time and energy to secure legal title to their land and build the homes. When they have a stake and participate in decision making, they strengthen themselves and their communities.
Aldo and Rosa 2018
Aldo and Rosa 2020
Join us to Build 50 more Dignified Homes in Paso Puente in 2020-2021
The Paso Puente community was formed by families who were displaced by the 2001 earthquakes. Having nowhere to go, they squatted on government lands. The Salvadoran Government finally granted them titles to their land in 2014. The 153 families of Paso Puente live in extreme poverty and squalid conditions—with homes made out of reused corrugated metal sheets and plastic, and with no potable water or sewage system. We are working with the community to build alternatives for youth instead of joining gangs or migrating.
Paso Puente is also located next to the Romero community, also made up of residents displaced by the earthquakes, where we and our partners built 65 homes for residents and installed energy, water and sanitation infrastructure after a hard-won, ten-year effort to secure legal titles to their land.
The Romero community demonstrates a model for Paso Puente residents. With international solidarity and their own sweat equity, the Romero community has empowered itself with access to higher education and leadership development, and by creating a cooperative business that grows and sells organic vegetables and indigo for income.
Since 2016, the CIS has partnered with the Ministry of Housing, Homes from the Heart and Paso Puente Community to build dignified homes with and for the community. We have built relationships with the Paso in the community by offering education scholarships, leadership training for youth, and art therapy classes to keep kids off the streets, installing a hand-pump well, and piloting a housing project that completed 15 homes for families, mostly single-mother households with income of only $3 per day. St. Elizabeth and Holy Spirit Parishes in Kansas City, AguaViva, and the Inti-Raymi Fund have been key partners in these efforts.
The new opportunity: A new government program of the Nayib Bukele Administration (in office since May 2019) grants subsidies or offers favorable credit to families who live in the most vulnerable conditions to build dignified homes in partnership with non-profit organizations.
The ministers of Housing, Public Works, Social Development, and Local Development, and the president of the water utility company visited Paso Puente and affirmed its eligibility for the program. Since families cannot afford the option of credit payments of $40-60 per month, we negotiated for subsidies, as follows.
Here’s how it works:
Construction of each home costs $7,500.
Families may apply for a public grant, administered by the Ministry of Housing, of $3,500 for the materials and infrastructure.
Each approved family is disbursed 50% of the grant at the start of the project and 50% when the walls of the home are completed, allowing installation of windows and doors.
The CIS, together with Homes from the Heart, donors, and partners, contributes $4,000 per home. We must raise these funds with your help.
The CIS oversees the construction and quality control, including the installation of electricity, plumbing, the floor, the roof, the absorption well, and a large laundry and wash basin. It purchases bricks of double the normal size to withstand earthquakes.
The Government committed to completing a potable water system, streets, and drainage that will benefit both the Romero and Paso Puente communities.
What your donations
pay for:
$4,000 completes a home, when paired with a government subsidy.
$1,500 pays for completion of the bathroom (plumbing, absorption well, toilet, shower and sink)
$1,200 pays for the first solid roof over a family’s home.
$600 replaces a dirt floor with a tile floor
$400 pays for electric installation
$200 pays to install the large wash basin for laundry and food preparation
$100 pays for CIS oversight and supervision
A note from one of our most faithful partners:
“
Dear friend and family of CIS,
I am so excited and thrilled with the opportunity to partner once again with the community in El Salvador and CIS. We have been blessed with many generous donors to realize our dreams of dignified living for the people in our communities. With God's help, we were able to build homes for the Romero Community and to partner with the people to provide homes and shelter.
It is truly the work of God, and God has called us all to be co-creators in building the kingdom of God.
The cry of the poor has reached the ears of God and ours as well; with joy and enthusiasm we will pledge our support to the construction of homes in the community of Paso Puente. You have our support and pledge; I invite all who read this note to join us in this effort, for it is of God.
Together let us make the kingdom of God a reality on earth.
- Fr. Gerald Waris and communities in Kansas City
