LatinNews Daily - 9 January 2025

*Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced in a press conference that the national housing authority (Conavi) will begin constructing social housing in February 2025 as part of a major campaign pledge which has the objective of building 1m new homes during her six year term which began in October 2024, as well as refurbishing a further 450,000. Half of the new housing will be built by the national fund for workers’ housing (Infonavit), a federal government fund that provides housing-related mortgage services for workers, with the rest to be built by the national housing authority (Conavi), funded partially by the welfare financing agency (Finabien). Also present at the press conference, Conavi director Rodrigo Chávez Contreras said that in 2025, Conavi will construct over 55,000 homes for low-income residents earning between one and two minimum wages. He said that Conavi currently had 167 lots, spanning over 2,000 hectares (ha), of which work was under way on 62. He said that in February work would begin on 27 lots (representing 124ha) – around 20,000 homes. Meanwhile as regards Infonavit, Sheinbaum said the government was awaiting the approval of legal reforms that would enable the agency to construct housing directly rather than only offering loans.