ÉCHALE

Location
Mexico

Programme
Mexico Accelerator Programmeand Dela III

Website
www.echale.mx

ÉCHALE helps people in poverty become owners of their home or supports them to improve their homes so they have a decent and safe living environment.

In Mexico, more than 9 million families have no access to livable housing, and unfortunately, these families who live in poverty often earn less than 5 euros per day. The ability to access any means of financing to acquire some type of housing is nearly impossible. 

ÉCHALE is an affordable housing social enterprise that helps people living in poverty to become owners of their own homes or helps them to renovate and improve the ones they have to achieve a decent and safe standard.  ÉCHALE achieves this by building homes under €8,500 with the help of government institutions, international funds, and other organizations.

ÉCHALE Financiera also helps families within these projects by:

  • Providing affordable financing options
  • Involving families in every step of the intervention by sharing their needs and opinions, so the homes are functional for them.
  • Building homes with an ecological alternative to cement called the ECO-BLOCK. This is a brick made by 90% of the soil in the building area and 10% of a mix of chalk, sand, cement, and water.
  • Having families participate in the construction of the houses in any way they can so they can feel a sense of achievement and ownership of the home they will inhabit (for example; painting walls, learning how to create an ECO-BLOCK)
Now ÉCHALE is collaborating with the UN to build SDGs communities; sustainable neighbourhoods where people can have access to livable housing while performing sustainable economic activities within the region. 

Aside from building affordable homes, ÉCHALE also helps families to renovate and improve the houses to make them safer and improve their living conditions. They are well known for providing disaster relief support after natural disasters by leading reconstruction work is also included in this initiative.  They have helped families after the 2017 devastating earthquake and currently, they are helping families after the terrible flooding in Tabasco, México. 

ÉCHALE is looking for ways to scale and increase the efficiency of their projects so they can reach more people within each construction region.

Francesco
Francesco engaging with volunteers on helping families to renovate and improve their houses and living conditions.