– “There is a misconception about the type of housing that can be bought with a loan with social interest”: Rosa Santiago, president of the Free College of Architects of Oaxaca.
“People have the inalienable right to live in a decent and safe house, so as architects we must put ourselves in the client’s place, always working with professional ethics,” said Rosa Esmeralda Santiago Vásquez, graduate architect at UABJO, during her conference “Housing from Social interest through loans and social programs: myths and reality”.
In front of the student community of the Faculty of Architecture on May 5 (FA5M-UABJO), a graduate of the mentioned academic unit and the current president of the Free and Independent College of Architects of Oaxaca (CLIAO), he described in detail the different loans offered by institutions such as Infonavit, Fovissste or banks, as well as the advantages and disadvantages between acquiring a social apartment or financed construction.
“There is a misconception about the type of housing that can be acquired through a social interest loan,” Santiago said, adding that while public and banking institutions aim to guarantee people access to housing, it is the architects who make it safe, to have basic services, to include eco-technologies, and even to guarantee their psychological well-being.
He explained that home loans are becoming the only option people have to be able to own a house or apartment. However, they rarely analyze the possibility of applying for a construction loan, because the interest rates are usually slightly higher than the interest rates on loans for the purchase of an already built house.
The architect believes that when applying for a construction loan, users could have a house according to the specific needs of their family, which is why she expressed at various national forums that interest rates for construction loans should be lower, promoting greater social welfare in the country.
During his conference, held as part of the Cultural Day 2022 activities, on the occasion of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the creation of FA5M UABJO, he spoke about various aspects of his professional practice, offering a panorama of employment opportunities for future architects.
“As students who graduated from a public university, we have a great commitment to society and must be true to our professional ethics, and even more values should be promoted at universities and institutions, because when you are on professional practice, you find many vices”, he pointed out and called on young people to they train in a spirit of revenge against the society that contributed to their training.
At the end, the director of FA5M UABJO, Carlos Ramírez Montes, thanked the architect Santiago Vásquez and presented her with an award for sharing her professional experience and maintaining a connection with the University that trained her professionally.