Maduro Bets his Mustache that State Housing Mission will Finish 1M Homes before Year’s End
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro pledged Wednesday to shave his mustache in the event that the Bolivarian government fails to meet its goal of completing a total of 1 million homes by year's end as part of the country's Great Housing Mission.
Santa Elena, November 5th, 2015 (venezuelanalysis.com)- “I’m making a bet,” the Venezuelan president said during a live presidential broadcast on Wednesday. “If we don’t reach one million homes by December 31st, I’ll shave my mustache.”
By October of 2014, the Venezuelan government had built 742,501 homes and handed the keys over to low-income citizens. President Nicolas Maduro said that over one million homes are currently in different stages of construction, and 260,000 of those are very close to being finished.
“I ask my brother and sister workers, and the engineers, work so that I don’t have to cut my mustache,” laughed the head of state before adding, “No, that’s a joke. Work because our people need their homes.”
The Great Housing Mission was launched in 2011 by former president Hugo Chavez after torrential rains left many thousands of Venezuelans without homes and shed light on a larger housing crisis.
In 2011, 3.7 million heads of household were without a decent home- a statistic which includes 11 million individuals, or one third of the population, according to official data.
The cost of the homes are subsidized by up to 80 percent and preferential credits are provided for families living off minimum wage.
Uruguay, Russia, China and Iran have contributed resources to the project on different occasions.