Título II. Sistema institucional

The housing sector, its territorial planning, equipment and services, is constituted by the set of public and private institutions, including legally constituted civil society organizations, which by designation, delegation or representation shall assume in accordance with the provisions of this Law, according to their competencies or attributions.

The National Council for Housing is hereby created, hereinafter called the National Council for Housing or CONAVI. It is constituted as a consultative and advisory instance of the governing entity, and shall have as its function to be a deliberative, consultative and advisory body, with the responsibilities of proposing, reaching agreement on and following up on policies, strategies and plans, issuing opinions, making proposals and promoting initiatives with respect to the execution of programs, projects and actions for housing developments and their territorial ordering, their services and facilities. Its actions shall be integrated with one another, for joint and comprehensive planning, formulation and implementation.

It is composed of a principal representative and an alternate, appointed by the following agencies and entities:

a)Executive Branch:

•The Vice Presidency of the Republic, which shall preside over it.

•The governing entity, which shall serve as secretary.

•Fund for Housing, FOPAVI.

•Secretariat for Executive Coordination of the Presidency -SCEP-.

•Secretariat for Programming and Planning of the Presidency -SEGEPLAN-.

•Municipal Development Institute -INFOM-.

•Land Fund -FONTIERRAS-.

•General Property Register.

•Cadastral Information Register -RIC-.

•National Council for Urban and Rural Development.

b)Municipalities:

•National Association of Municipalities -ANAM-.

c)Private sector:

•National Association of Housing Builders -ANACOVI-, member of the Chamber of Construction, attached to the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial and Financial Associations –CACIF-.

•National Federation of Housing Cooperatives -FENACOVI-.

•National Federation of Savings and Credit Cooperatives -FENACOAC-

•Federation of Popular Habitat Development Organizations -FODHAP-.

d)Financial sector:

•Banking Association of Guatemala -ABG-.

•Institute for the Promotion of Insured Mortgages -FHA-.

•Legally authorized insurers and bonding companies that guarantee obligations related to housing.

e)Academic and professional sector:

•University of San Carlos of Guatemala -USAC-, represented by the Center for Urban and Regional Studies -CEUR-.

•Private universities of the country, represented by the faculties and research centers related to housing matters.

•College of Engineers of Guatemala.

•College of Architects of Guatemala.

f)Residents:

•Guatemalan Residents Movement -MGP-.

A regulation shall govern all matters relating to the appointment of the representatives referred to in this article.

The National Council for Housing -CONAVI-, when it deems it appropriate, shall request technical opinion and support from the universities of the country, professionals expert in housing matters, and public institutions whose expertise is required.

The National Council for Housing shall approve its internal regulations, which it may amend with the favorable vote of two-thirds of its members. Said regulations shall be subject to final approval by the governing body.

The National Housing Council -CONAVI- has the following powers:

a)To act as agents for consensus-building and leadership of departmental, municipal and local initiatives, proposing policies, strategies, plans, programs and projects within the scope of the respective department or region.

b)To propose mechanisms for audit and monitoring of the national housing policy and of the approved plans relating to decent housing, its territorial organization, services and community facilities.

c)To propose strategic planning and its monitoring mechanisms in the municipalities and departments, defining procedures for coordination and liaison with the other entities involved in the process of generating housing, its territorial organization, services and facilities, generating strategic agreements among them.

d)To provide advice to the governing body in the implementation and evaluation of the policies within its competence, as well as in the preparation of national popular-housing strategies and plans and in the search for expeditious instruments for their efficient and effective coordination.

e)To assist in the national housing policy, in accordance with this Law, as well as in the integration of said policy into the National System of Development Councils at its five different levels of participation.

f)To propose guidelines for the implementation of the national housing policy, its territorial organization, services and facilities.

g)To propose mechanisms to facilitate and assist in expeditious coordination with the bodies of the public administration and the municipalities, in the implementation of the national housing policy.

h)To hear and give an opinion on the reports and studies prepared on the progress and fulfillment of the goals of the governing body's plans in matters of housing, its organization, services and facilities.

i)To propose sources of financial resources for the subsidiary development of comprehensive housing projects, as well as the processes for managing said resources.

j)To promote national and international technical and financial cooperation, to arrange for obtaining the resources necessary for decent and comprehensive housing developments.

k)To recommend policies for coordination among state housing entities, financial entities and entities of any other nature, to assist in the development of housing projects.

l)To propose mechanisms to facilitate access to and legalization of land for housing purposes.

m)To prepare the proposed regulations required under this Law, and submit them to the governing body for approval and publication.

n)To comply with other powers assigned to it by this Law, and complementary regulations.

The governing entity shall exercise the function of promoter and facilitator of the country's housing development and its territorial planning, ensuring that housing is provided with services and facilities, through the administrative units defined for such purpose. The governing entity shall include within its budget the resources necessary for the effective and efficient functioning of the National Housing Council.

The governing entity shall organize itself internally to join, through its delegates, the National Council for Urban and Rural Development. Furthermore, it shall coordinate with the Departmental Urban and Rural Development Councils to permanently present the technical guidelines and orientations on housing, territorial planning in housing matters, services and facilities.

The governing entity shall support organized intermunicipal associations whose purposes include addressing housing issues, providing them with advisory assistance and promoting national and international support networks.

The governing entity shall promote the linkage of the Departmental Councils for Urban and Rural Development with the intermunicipal associations in relation to housing, its territorial planning, services and facilities; and for such purpose it may designate special personnel to coordinate entities and institutions.

The governing body shall convene the representatives of the Departmental Councils for Urban and Rural Development that are included in the subject matter of housing, its territorial planning, services and facilities, and the National Council for Housing, to the annual meeting in the month of November of each year, for the purpose of evaluating the work performed and proposing guidelines and actions for the following year.

By provision of this Law, the governing entity shall have the following powers, relating to the integration of information and coordination of initiatives and technical support, which shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures to be established by the regulations of this law:

a)To be responsible for establishing the organization, management, administration, operation and maintenance of the infrastructure of the national housing information system, its territorial planning, services and social facilities, enabling the handling of information and its efficient linkage and coordination with CONAVI, the Urban and Rural Development Councils, and other entities of the sector, on all aspects relating to the scope of its competence, including managerial, promotional and citizen information.

b)To collect, integrate and technically coordinate the initiatives and information originating from CONAVI and from the different levels of the system of Urban and Rural Development Councils, in order to analyze, study and formulate the technical proposals of the area of its competence, in accordance with the established instruments and scales.

c)To execute the technical proposals derived from suggestions and initiatives of the Urban and Rural Development Councils and CONAVI.

d)To provide broad technical support to the system of Urban and Rural Development Councils at its different levels, for the analysis of information and the preparation of progress reports and evaluation of actions and results, in order to provide feedback to the various public-private bodies on the subject matter for which it is responsible.

e)To act as a technical liaison center with the system of Urban and Rural Development Councils at its different levels, as well as with all such organizations, both territorial-geographic and sectoral.

f)To technically support the consensus-building processes carried out by the sector, providing full support and follow-up of actions to achieve the objectives and the common good.

g)To coordinate with other state and municipal agencies, as well as to coordinate activities with international organizations, private-sector entities and civil society organizations.

h)To enter into cooperation agreements or technical services agreements with other entities such as research institutes and universities, as well as for the handling of information.

i)Other related powers as determined by the competent authorities.

In addition to what is established in the preceding article, the governing entity shall also be responsible for the following:

a)Coordination with the National Geographic Institute –IGN-, the Cadastral Information Registry -RIC- and the General Property Registry –RGP- and with the institutions related to territorial planning related to housing, seeking technical and legal support in this matter; and,

b)Coordination to establish cooperation with municipalities, institutions, public and private organizations, national and international, on the subject of urban facilities, water, solid waste and liquid waste and transportation, as well as infrastructure services for dignified housing developments: streets, sidewalks, curbs, signage and others.

The participation of the country's municipalities in the management of housing development and its territorial ordering, services and facilities, shall have as its objective:

a)To ensure that the general norms related to housing, its territorial ordering, services and facilities are applied, the creation and control of specific norms consistent with the provisions of this Law being the power and responsibility of the municipalities, through their councils.

b)To coordinate with the municipalities the preparation of dignified housing development programs, their territorial ordering, services and facilities, establishing strategic alliances with contributions of land, advisory services, financing, subsidies, materials and technology, among others.

c)To harmonize their plans and programs for dignified housing, its territorial ordering, services and facilities, with the general norms contained in this Law and with the policies, plans and programs established by the governing entity in harmony with municipal autonomy and the provisions of the Municipal Code.

d)To promote complementarity in strategic housing development actions with municipal development plans and their territorial ordering.

Municipalities shall endeavor to harmonize their housing plans, their territorial planning, municipal services and facilities, with those established for such purpose by the governing entity.

Municipalities, on the basis of Decree Number 16-2010 of the Congress of the Republic, Law on Partnerships for the Development of Economic Infrastructure, may formulate the regulations that facilitate resource management and promotion of housing projects.

The governing entity, within the scope of its jurisdiction, shall support the municipalities when it concerns the conduct of their private interests, the management of their resources and the solution of their problems, taking into account the following circumstances:

a)Force of municipal autonomy.

b)Recognition of the multi-ethnic, pluricultural and multilingual character of the populations.

c)The inalienable right and interest to manage their own affairs.

d)The immediacy that allows identifying problems and proposing solutions in a more rapid, efficient and effective manner.

e)Convenience and rationality in the application and allocation of resources.

Citizen participation is established as a process by which an organized community, with economic, social or cultural purposes, participates in planning, execution, social audit, monitoring and comprehensive control in the processes of dignified housing development, its territorial ordering, services and facilities, and government management within the following context:

a)As an expression of the exercise of freedoms and democratic rights;

b)As a strengthening of the process of political control and moderation of governmental action in the management of matters of public interest, in which case the population of the municipalities may organize to carry out social audits that guarantee compliance with this provision;

c)As a consensus-building mechanism, contributing balanced decisions to integrate and share the vision of the country and, consequently, to establish the responsibilities, commitments and support of society in the execution of all actions contemplated in this Law;

d)As a mechanism to promote the public-private liaison process, in order to help strategically stimulate equitable and sustainable economic development;

e)As a mechanism to harmonize, link, complement and enhance public investment and private investment, in harmony with the previously defined planning;

f)As a mechanism of respect for authority and the laws; and,

g)As a mechanism for transparency in the use of resources. In their actions, civil society organizations exercising their right to citizen participation shall seek consensus, agreement, equitable commitment, the right to obtain information, and the prompt solution of problems and conflicts in accordance with the procedures established by law.