Why We Work in Latin America

The most common question we hear is, ‘Why Latin America?’

If we had to summarize our answer in one sentence, it would be this: Our team, donors, and investors can make an exponentially larger impact on the global housing crisis by focusing on Latin America.

Another form of the question we hear often is, “Why don’t you work in the U.S.?”

Because your support wouldn’t go nearly as far if we did. The U.S. is saturated with housing organizations and has a strong Department of Housing compared to lower-income countries. Lower-income countries also lack the solutions and safety nets found in the U.S. and other developed countries. For instance, more than 10,000 shelters in the U.S. provide temporary housing for people experiencing homelessness. There are less than 300 shelters in Mexico — despite a housing deficit of 8.5 million homes.

The rest of this article unpacks the core reasons we’re committed to addressing the housing crisis in Latin America, with the most influential factors being:

We started our work in Haiti 10 years ago and expanded via a strong and growing network of trusted and experienced partners in Latin America.
There’s a lack of organizations working on long-term, sustainable solutions in Latin America.
In Latin America, 120 million people live in informal settlements or inadequate conditions, making housing inequality one of the region’s most urgent social problems.

It’s more cost-effective to create housing solutions in Latin America than it is in more developed countries — so your donations and investments go further.

Our story started in Latin America

We launched New Story in 2014 to bring housing to families in Haiti who lost their homes to an earthquake.

Brett, our co-founder and CEO, visited Haiti four years after the devastating 2010 earthquake. Families were living under tents in the heat of Haiti, without clean water or sanitation. When Brett looked for a nonprofit addressing the crisis, he searched for three qualities: transparency, innovation, and impactful results. And when he wasn’t satisfied with his options, he co-founded New Story with Mike Arrieta, Allie Lafci, and Matthew Marshall.

Since starting in Haiti, our generous community has brought safe housing to more than 20,000 people in Bolivia, El Salvador, and Mexico. A decade of supporting Latin America has formed strong and reliable partnerships that make all of our work possible.

Meet a few of our Latin American partners.

What the co-founders realized in Haiti 10 years ago remains true today: vulnerable families experiencing housing insecurities in Latin America lack the resources and opportunities that exist elsewhere.

Why Mexico is our main focus in Latin America

Sharing a border with Mexico puts us in a prime position to support the country with land and housing solutions. Our Impact Team operates from Mexico City, putting us close to the problem we’re tackling and the people we’re supporting. It’s this proximity that allows us to test new solutions and learn quickly.

Our experience in Mexico has shown us that the housing crisis is driven by reasons entirely different than those in more developed countries. In Mexico, the housing crisis is driven by systemic issues like extreme inequality. An estimated 77% of workers in Mexico receive less than three minimum wages, making it impossible for most of the population to buy land, secure a loan, or purchase housing.

The graphs below show that Mexico experiences one of the most severe income gaps despite working more annual hours than any other country.

When low-income families in Latin America experience financial struggles, their safety nets are nearly non-existent.

Though they’re still insufficient, safety nets in more developed countries — such as shelters, Social Security, SNAP (food stamps), and Medicaid — provide vulnerable families with resources to help them gain stability. However, vulnerable families in Latin America lack access to resources in times of trouble.

And while much of the homeless population in developed countries can migrate to city centers for resources, this isn’t the case for countries like Mexico. The housing crisis in Mexico affects families in rural areas the most, particularly those living in informal settlements. That’s why we focus on building communities in rural Latin America, areas more likely to be neglected by the market.

Informality leads to inequality

We’ve seen that families living in informal settlements are most vulnerable to housing insecurity without access to safety nets.

The UN defines an informal settlement as "a group of more than 10 houses on public or private land, built without the owner's permission, without any legal formality and without complying with urban planning laws." These families are often hard-working people with no other housing option due to financial insecurity. They have steady jobs, like farming or working in the service industry, but they are paid less and lack basic services.

Not only does lack of basic infrastructure like water, sanitation, and hygiene have huge effect on our health when living in informal settlements, limited access to financial services is the main reason why most families cannot move out of these conditions. An estimated 84% of low-income families in Mexico lack access to financial products, primarily loans for land, which are more scarce than housing loans. And only 37% of adults in Mexico have bank accounts due to the nature of informal work, high banking fees, and a history of bank distrust. Without the ability to build credit or access a loan, most families in Mexico lack the financial resources to secure the housing they need.

When families cannot obtain a loan, and the market provides minimal options for low-income families working in the informal sector, entire communities are left without adequate housing. We’re committed to supporting these underserved areas so families can become land and homeowners in thriving communities.

The opportunity to make an outsized difference

Income inequality and a lack of financing options explain why 80% of families in Mexico can’t afford a home.

Mexico’s demand for housing solutions is massive, making it an untapped opportunity. For example, as of 2020, 2.6 million families in Mexico owned land and were willing to build their homes. They just can’t access the financial resources to build. Of the families looking to self-build, 94% lack access to financial options. Many families resort to self-building their homes incrementally, which can be unsafe, more expensive, and take generations to complete if families lack the proper resources.

While the demand and desire for housing solutions are strong in Latin America, there’s a scarcity of organizations tackling the housing crisis with sustainable solutions. Our generous community of donors and investors is paving a new path for low-income families in Latin America to secure their own housing at a price they can afford.

There’s an opportunity to transform the housing market for low-income families in Latin America.

Will you join us in making this work possible?

$1K changes a family’s life forever

Since labor and construction costs are more affordable in Latin America, your support goes further. Our team requires only $1,000 of philanthropy to equip one vulnerable family to purchase land for the first time. And once a family owns land, we help them use it as collateral to secure their first home loan. That loan allows families to self-build their home with the help of an architect or purchase a home from our catalog.

Our model allows families to take ownership of their housing journey every step along the way. And at the end of the process, families are left with a generational asset that allows their family to stay safe, grow their wealth, and build the life they want.

If you or your organization would like to support our work in Latin America, you can connect with our Director of Development by emailing danielle@newstoryhomes.org.