Brazilian farmers win state funding to build and renovate 1000 homes
Grassroots partner, the Popular Peasant Movement (MCP), recently won renewed funding by the Brazilian state of Goiás to build and renovate 1,000 homes for small farming families. For the MCP, this marks a major milestone for advancing farming family rights and recognition by the state of the crucial role that small farmers play in society.
The signing of the ‘My House, My Life’ agreement on April 5th in the state capital, Goiânia, was attended by members of the MCP, the Governor of the State of Goiás, Marconi Perillo, and representatives from the federal government and state financial institutions.
The MCP, which played a major role in advocating for this program, has been pressing the government over the years to dedicate public resources to support rural farming families, and expand the number of families able to access state housing programs. For the MCP, this promising development “makes decent housing available for low-income farming families”, and constitutes a major step forward in increasing the economic security and stability of an otherwise vulnerable sector of rural Brazilian society.
The agreement between the MCP and the state agency enabling the construction and renovation of a thousand houses represents an investment of approximately $3.4 million US dollars over a period of two years. This is in addition to a previous similar agreement signed in 2012. The housing program has benefited approximately two thousand families in Goiás since 2011.
http://www.mcpbrasil.org.br/item/1846-moradia-camponesa-nosso-sonho-nossa-luta-e-nossa-conquista