LocationsAfter years of effort, Sonia and Antonella left behind the uncertainty of renting and are now owners of their first home. Their stories are part of a solution developed by Fábrica Social TECHO (FST), which was analyzed together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), contributing to transforming the housing reality in Argentina.
From Access to Homeownership to the Dream of Seeing It Grow
February 9, 2026
Sonia wakes up every morning in her home in Benavídez and leaves very early for work. On the bus, she dreams about future expansions and runs the numbers: only a few installments remain on the loan she was able to access to purchase her first home through an initiative by Fábrica Social TECHO (FST). It is a construction and financing plan tailored to her budget and built on a social approach.
With the support of UNDP in Argentina, together with Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE), FST prepared a report on households living in low-income neighborhoods, their housing conditions, and their main demands.
For Sonia, having a roof over her head is essential, it represents all the effort and perseverance it took to get where she is today. Since moving in September 2023, she has been improving different spaces and, as it is a progressive housing model, she will be able to expand it according to her family’s needs. “I had nowhere to live with my two children,” Sonia says as she walks through her home.
The hardest part is now behind her. Accessing housing had not been easy, but thanks to an FST staff member she learned about the social loan, accompanied by a payment plan adapted to her situation, and embarked on the biggest project of her life. “Now we have a roof over our heads: we’re at peace and no one can bother us,” she says, convinced of the impact the loan has had. Every time Sonia welcomes visitors into her home, she remembers where she once stood and encourages her friends to seek information.
UNDP Argentina
On the other side of Greater Buenos Aires, in the town of Virrey del Pino, Antonella helps her neighbors build the walls of the three homes constructed in that community. Since last December, she has had a roof of her own, where she lives with her daughter, Ambar. Spacious, with two bedrooms and a living-dining area, they live in an FST modular home that she is also paying for in installments.
“We moved from one rental to another, and at the end we spent three months at my mom’s house,” she recalls. Owning a home had once seemed unthinkable, but when she discovered this construction and financing model, she decided to take the leap and provide her family with a safe space. Just as Antonella collaborates with her community in building homes, she and Ambar received help from neighbors to raise the walls of the place where their daily lives would unfold.
As she steps outside, Antonella’s mother rests under the shade of a tree. Once the house was finished, she also supported them by helping with caregiving tasks, cleaning the lot, and working in the garden so that each day the house would feel more like a home. Antonella and Ambar are beginning to live their own dream.
UNDP Argentina
From Local to Global: The Housing Situation
The right to adequate housing is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 25) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art. 11). It extends beyond access to four walls and a roof—it is, above all, about living in a home with security and dignity.
Despite extensive international declarations, commitments, and regulations, more than one billion people worldwide live in inadequate housing and informal settlements. In Latin America, this number is close to 60 million people. In Argentina, according to official 2025 figures, 1,287,942 families live in 6,467 low-income neighborhoods.
In this context, and given the need to advance housing policies within an inclusive and sustainable growth model, it is strategic for UNDP and PAGE to explore innovative technical and financial schemes that promote the development of sustainable housing with the capacity to generate green jobs.
On the Potential Demand for Housing
UNDP in Argentina and PAGE carried out joint work with FST to gather information and generate knowledge about households living in low-income neighborhoods, their housing conditions, and their main demands. This evidence is key to designing initiatives that respond to their socioeconomic and cultural contexts, incorporating economic, financial, social, and technical variables that influence access to progressive and sustainable housing.
The report analyzes the potential demand for this type of housing among people in situations of social vulnerability, through market-based mechanisms, as a contribution to reducing Argentina’s housing deficit. The document provides information on households in low-income neighborhoods, their housing conditions, and their main demands.
In this context, the proposal was to develop accessible housing solutions adapted to each family’s living conditions and to give them the opportunity to progressively improve their homes. At the same time, a development and sustainable finance approach was implemented, mobilizing resources toward affordable housing that improves quality of life and helps reduce the housing deficit.
Numbers That Reflect the Reality of Thousands of Families
The study revealed that one in three families in Argentina faces housing problems, and more than one and a half million need a new home. In addition, nine out of ten dream of improving their home, and six out of ten have the capacity to do so on their own or with help from their community.
A high level of awareness was also detected regarding dry construction—the method used by FST for sustainable housing: seven out of ten families are familiar with it, and nine out of ten show interest in progressive housing built with this system. Even in terms of financing, the outlook is positive: six out of ten families can afford the proposed installment to access their home.
These findings confirm that the customer-centered social model is effective and has the potential to continue growing. In fact, it enabled a tenfold increase in sales between 2024 and 2025, consolidating the development of housing solutions for low-income sectors.
UNDP Argentina
From Social Bonds to Innovative Solutions
The UNDP–PAGE partnership has been working to support countries in reshaping their economic policies and practices toward a sustainable development model. In this line, in 2024 they launched a report exploring alternatives to promote sustainable housing through innovative financing schemes, including the issuance of social, green, and sustainable bonds that generate green employment, weaving collaborative partnerships among civil society organizations with expertise in community construction, social housing, sustainable finance, and more—together with state actors, development cooperation agencies, and purpose-driven private companies.
A clear example of this initiative is FST’s experience: in 2022, it inaugurated its own production plant, financed through the first social bond issuance by a civil association in Argentina. This unprecedented operation demonstrated the growing interest and commitment of the investment sector to financial instruments that generate high social impact.
Situations like those of Sonia and Antonella prove that behind every statistic there are lives being transformed and dreams being built.
