The National Workers’ Housing Fund is considering the demolition of close to 400,000 abandoned houses that were built over the past decade.

Infonavit director Carlos Martínez Velázquez explained that the fund has identified 650,000 abandoned houses, of which 171,000 are to be recovered. Of the remainder, 400,000 are being evaluated to determine whether they should be demolished or can still be recovered.

Martínez is not confident that many will be salvageable. The final decision will come after a detailed, “case by case” assessment of the projects’ subsoil and the accessibility of public utilities.

The director explained that many of the housing projects were not feasible from their inception. But construction permits were granted regardless. “Nine or 10 years later, [the houses] still lack utilities and their recovery today is not possible.”

Source: El Financiero (sp)