Nine Guatemalan families received the keys to new homes as part of
an IOM pilot project aimed at enhancing the development potential
of international migration.



The homes, the first of 59 to be built in two phases, were
constructed in the Municipality of Morazán over a four-month
period with financial support from the Guatemalan Vice
President’s Office and the Ministry of Communications,
Infrastructure and Housing as well as migrants living in the United
States.



Members of the US-based La Asociación de Guatemaltecos
Morazanecos Ausentes en EEUU, a hometown association of Guatemalan
migrants from the area attended the hand-over ceremony.



Those qualifying for the homes were poor families living in basic
accommodation, some of them in homes made from adobe or in wooden
shacks.



IOM’s chief of mission in Guatemala, Günther
Müssig, said the programme was breaking ground in the debate
on migration and development. “This programme, the first of
its kind in the region, aims to reduce the housing shortage in the
country and to provide better living conditions for poor rural
families.”



According to a 2005 IOM Guatemala survey, about 240,000 families
with migrant members had precarious housing. A similar government
survey carried out in 2002 found nearly one million homes were
unsuitable.



For more information, please contact:



Günther Müssig

IOM Guatemala

E-mail: "mailto:iomguatemala@iom.int" target="" title=
"">iomguatemala@iom.int