In order to provide greater protection to vulnerable families and expand facilities to people, Cuba has granted, since 2012, subsidies to carry out constructive actions in their homes. However, this policy is one of the most backward in the housing program, perhaps due to ignorance, but also due to late payment, inconsistencies when executing actions, violations of procedures, technical and human failures. For this reason, the Municipal Assembly of People's Power in Guantánamo takes advantage of the importance of the issue to socialize some notions that you should know about it.
Process:
Subsidies are granted, only once for a specific work object, to natural persons who lack economic solvency, protected or not by social assistance, interested in carrying out constructive actions such as the construction, repair and conservation of houses by effort own for the purpose of paying:
a) Construction materials;
b) labor;
c) the transportation of construction materials (from the points of sale to the homes of the subsidized persons);
d) the technical documentation (urban regulations, project, Construction License and Habitable Certificate) that require construction actions; and the Perpetual Right to the Land Surface.
Who benefits from subsidies?
The owners, the tenants of state houses and the usufructuaries are beneficiaries of this subsidy; as well as those who, by taking a constructive action, can recover or finish an adequate home.
In the cases of usufructuaries or tenants who live in rooms, rooms and state dwellings, they can carry out conservation actions only of what is built and always inside the property they occupy, in accordance with the established urban regulations.
Persons who have Lease with Purchase Option contracts with bank branches are excepted from the above, and upon completion of the payment, they become owners.
To receive the subsidy, maximum limits are set, taking into account per capita income (less than or equal to 300 pesos) and other situations of vulnerability of the family nucleus.
It does not mean that those who receive higher amounts (up to 600 pesos) cannot be helped, as long as situations such as “women or men heads of household, alone, caring for minors, irreversibly chronically ill, people with disabilities or older adults are identified. ”.
Likewise, there are cases of mothers and fathers caring for two or more children under 12 years of age, older adults who live alone or with other elderly people without family support, nuclei where all their members have disabilities, or critical situations to eradicate vulnerable housing conditions.
Requirements, priorities and amount of the subsidy to be awarded.
The natural person who needs to obtain a subsidy to build, repair or preserve their home, must meet the following requirements:
a) Family nucleus and cohabitants with lack of economic solvency, protected or not by social assistance; Y
b) living in vulnerable housing conditions, homelessness or need to build, expand, repair or preserve their home.
The interested person submits the request, at the time that there is a budget and for the time established by the Municipal Administration Council, after informing the population through the different communication channels, before the Procedures offices of the municipal Housing directorates.
For the selection of natural persons to be benefited with the subsidy, the following priorities are taken into account:
a) Families affected by natural disasters (cyclones, floods, landslides, fires and others considered as such) whose damage has been classified as total or partial loss of housing; Fundamentally, the cases that are pending to conclude the constructive action, have a Construction License by their own effort and are homes that are in an advanced state of execution;
b) critical social cases, particularly to eradicate those who live in vulnerable housing conditions;
c) mothers, fathers or legal guardians with three (3) or more children under seventeen (17) years of age; Y
d) families or people who need to solve obstructions and hydrosanitary leaks.
The Municipal Housing Directorate has a period of up to thirty (30) business days to prepare the file and submit it to the Municipal Administration Council for consideration.
The Municipal Administration Council (CAM) carries out at least two annual calls for the reception of applications, so that the approved subsidies have the support of financing.
The term to respond to requests is up to 70 business days (previously 45), from the submission of requests. Greater protection is provided to nuclei with low economic solvency, identified through a rigorous analysis by the municipal Labor directorates.
How to apply for a subsidy?
The application is presented to Housing first and it guides you through the rest of the steps. The document to request a subsidy contains the following information:
a) Names and surnames of the applicant, identity number, domicile address and place of location; and description of the actions to be carried out.
The interested party, at the time of submitting the application, will also exhibit the document proving their ownership of the place where they will operate.
The municipal housing addresses, once the request is received, have a term of thirty (30) business days to prepare and process the file that is forwarded to the CAM for consideration.
Applications for subsidies from natural persons are not processed when they are to carry out constructive actions in homes located in hot spots or unhealthy neighborhoods that are approved for their elimination, if the constructive action requires a Construction License; and houses granted in lease, the rooms and rooms belonging to the state housing fund, if the constructive action requires a Construction License.
Changes as a result of the Order.
Agreement 9072, of the Executive Committee of the Council of Ministers, increases the amounts for the granting of subsidies to natural persons without economic solvency for the lifting of basic housing cells up to 188 thousand 560 pesos.
On the other hand, for the rehabilitation the maximum figure of 133 thousand 742 pesos is established and the minor and major conservation will be up to 14 thousand 149 pesos and 38 thousand 816 pesos respectively.
Likewise, the time for the execution of the work for which the subsidy was granted is reduced to six months (initially there were 18), the above requires greater agility not only from the beneficiaries, but also from the municipal authorities to generate all the documentation and the material resources that must be produced in the territory in order to satisfy that demand.
In addition, given the delay that exists in some works, only in exceptional cases, such as the occurrence of natural phenomena, the territorial governments will be empowered to grant new subsidies.
Agreement 9072 also complies with the requests of the population to streamline the application and approval processes of subsidies, therefore, the terms for the procedures of the files in the municipal housing directorates are reduced from 45 to 30 days, and 30 to 20 days in municipal governments.
On the other hand, the extension of the validity period of the files to one year, from their reception, stands out.
Other details.
The amount for transportation is calculated in correspondence with the distance between the supply store and the subsidiary's home, whose amounts will not exceed:
a) Basic Housing Cells up to fifteen thousand Cuban pesos (15,000.00 CUP);
b) rehabilitation actions up to twelve thousand Cuban pesos (12,000.00 CUP);
c) Major and minor conservation actions up to three thousand Cuban pesos (3,000.00 CUP) and 1,500 Cuban pesos (1,500.00 CUP), respectively.
In the event of the death of the beneficiary, the resignation of the subsidy, the definitive departure from the country or other causes, the people who make up the family nucleus or occupy the property -as long as they are entitled to it- can submit the request to continue with the subsidy .
The beneficiaries of the granting of a subsidy for the construction of a house are obliged to enter the State Budget one hundred percent of the subsidized amount when the owner sells or transfers the house as a donation in the first fifteen (15) years, counted at as of the date of the "Agreement for Granting Subsidies", in accordance with the provisions of the "General Housing Law", as amended by Decree-Law 342, of December 14, 2016.
For swap cases, in the period mentioned in the previous paragraph, they maintain the obligation to enter the State Budget the total amount that corresponds with respect to the original home if they decide to sell or donate the new home acquired by swap, in accordance with the established in current legislation.
If it is verified that the subsidy was granted based on false data and declarations, the CAM orders its cancellation and reimbursement of the amount used to the State Budget by the beneficiary.
It is clarified that when the favored persons receive donations (from the State) for construction materials, the value of what is delivered is discounted.
Likewise, non-compliance with the agreement may lead not only to the cancellation of the subsidy, but also to the courts.
Dairon Martínez Tejeda
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