The goal of the National Rural Housing Program (PNHR), which is part of Minha Casa, Minha Vida, is to finance the construction and renovation of 60,000 homes between 2011 and 2014.

According to Caixa's Director of Housing, Teotônio Rezende, the expectation is that by the beginning of next year this target will be reached and revised. Since the bank began operating in the program, in September 2009, funds have been released to 29,131 families. Of this total, in the first half of this year, 9,665 were served. “Given the volume of proposals currently being analyzed at Caixa, it will be possible to surpass this goal”, he said. According to him, currently, there are more than 50 thousand proposals under analysis.

Rezende highlighted that the program gained greater momentum last year, when articulation was made with class entities to better meet the needs of family farmers and rural workers. On average, R$ 25,000 are released per housing unit.

On the last 9th, Banco do Brasil (BB) also became part of the PNHR. The goal is to release credit for 100,000 housing units by July 2014. For Rezende, BB's participation will help to reduce the rural housing deficit, estimated at around 1 million units.

Upon announcing participation in the program, the vice president of Agribusiness at BB, Osmar Dias, denied that the bank's entry was to compete with Caixa. “The most important factor that determined Banco do Brasil's entry into this segment is the bank's close relationship with family farmers. We are not competing with Caixa. We are complementing work that Caixa does with great competence”, he said.

For the secretary of Agricultural Policy at the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (Contag), Antoninho Rovaris, although the country is still far from overcoming the housing deficit in the rural sector, the program can help reduce the problem. “It may take ten or 20 years,” he estimated.

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According to Rovaris, the sector is confident in the government's promise that there will be no shortage of resources for the program. He added that the rural sector has been negotiating with the government the participation of other public banks in the program – Banco do Nordeste and Banco da Amazônia – and also credit cooperatives. Another demand is that rural salaried workers, such as sugarcane cutters, also have access to the rural program, as well as agrarian reform settlers.

According to Caixa, family farmers and rural workers can be assisted by the PNHR, as well as artisanal fishermen, extractivists, fish farmers, seafarers, fish farmers, riverside dwellers, quilombola communities, indigenous peoples and other traditional communities. Families are organized by the municipality or by the state or by a non-profit representative entity, unions, cooperatives or associations. These entities present the project to Caixa. Proposals must meet a minimum of four and a maximum of 50 families per group.

To have access to credit of up to R$25,000 for construction and R$15,000 for renovation, the annual family income must be up to R$15,000. According to BB, in this case, there is no collection of financial charges and the subsidy is 96%. The deadline for payments is up to four years.

In group 2 of the program, families with annual income above R$15,000 and up to R$30,000 are included. In this case, the financial charges are 5% per year plus the Referential Rate (TR). In group 3, there are families with annual income above R$30,000 and up to R$60,000. Interest rates vary between 6% and 8.16% per year plus TR. In groups 2 and 3, up to R$ 80 thousand can be financed.