Brazil’s Lula to restart housing program for low-income families

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will this month restart the federal housing program “Minha Casa, Minha Vida” for lower income people, his chief of staff said on Sunday.

Rui Costa said on TV GloboNews that the announcement will be made on Feb. 14 in Bahia state as part of several trips by the leftist president until March to initiate programs that boost the economy and quickly benefit the population.

The focus of the housing program, which means “my home, my life”, would be on the resumption of unfinished works and on one that involves greater government subsidy, Costa said.

According to Costa, the program had been “extinct” under the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro. Now, around 120,000 unfinished units will be resumed, he said.

Created in 2009 during Lula’s second presidential term, the program offers federal subsidies for home ownership, boosting works carried out by homebuilders such as MRV and Tenda.

Costa also said that the president would visit the state of Sergipe on Feb. 15 to resume a highways program.

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; editing by Grant McCool)