Cancun, Q.R. — President Claudia Sheinbaum launched the start of the Viviendas del Bienestar program in Cancun to build 22,000 homes. The 22,000 homes are being built around the state of Quintana Roo for the working class.
Sheinbaum launched the program Friday along with state Governor Mara Lezama. The Viviendas del Bienestar (Well-Being Housing) program will see a first-stage construction of 5,632 homes for beneficiaries earning less than minimum wage.
During the launch, Sheinbaum said that these types of social programs that are a right of the Mexican people and that there can be no rich government with poor people.
She said the Vivienda del Bienestar program will be developed by INFONAVIT, FOVISSSTE and CONAVI adding that housing is a right. It is no longer a commodity or a privilege as it was under neoliberal governments.
Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa emphasized that President Claudia Sheinbaum’s launch of the Viviendas del Bienestar program in Paraíso Maya, a neighborhood in Cancun, is the first step toward changing the harsh reality of thousands of families who were trapped on the fringes of development while tourist havens grew.
The governor of Quintana Roo accompanied President Claudia Sheinbaum at the launch of this national program, which includes the first 5,000 units in the state.
“This program is not just a number, it’s a decision, a vision, acres of hope and recognition of housing as a human right for the people of Quintana Roo. For many years, the unbridled growth and prosperity of places like Cancun, which at 55 years old, has grown like few other cities in the world, was unevenly distributed,” explained Governor Mara Lezama.
This resulted, she continued, in rising land prices and unaffordable rents leaving families trapped on the fringes of development, unable to take the important step of owning a home.
“We are convinced that there cannot be tourist paradises with hellholes of marginalization,” she said during the Friday launch.
Lezama acknowledge that many tourist workers who clean clean five-star hotel rooms sleep in makeshift accommodations while others serve tourists from all over the world but are unsure of where they themselves, will live tomorrow.
She emphasized that this extremely important public policy by President Claudia Sheinbaum is settling a social debt owed to those who have historically been excluded and for many years have lost the dream of a better future.
“It’s designed for, among others, waiters, chambermaids, gardeners, cooks, single mothers, sailors, fishermen and young people who dream of becoming independent.
“It is for all of you who have worked your entire lives and have been kept from the possibility of owning your own home by the market,” Lezama said. “A home is the first foundation of a community and a country. It is a space from which lasting peace is built from the bottom up,” he emphasized.
Governor Lezama added that the construction of these 22,000 homes in Quintana Roo, which are expected to be available by 2030, will generate local employment, stimulate the economy and strengthen production chains.
“This investment means well-being, it means justice, it is a real opportunity for those who have never had it. It is the realization of the hope that prosperity in Quintana Roo will be shared,” she stated.
“Today we are laying the foundation for a new life for thousands of families. Today we are saying loud and clear that we can build a different Mexico, a Mexico where having a home doesn’t depend on luck or the market, but where access to it is a right for everyone,” said Lezama.
