Above: Port-au-Prince (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The United States government’s Overseas Private Investment Corporation will launch a new mortgage finance project in Haiti this week.

The project, which was developed in partnership with the US Agency for International Development and the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, will be managed by US-based housing firm Development Innovations Group, the agency announced in a release Monday.

The project will combine loans from OPIC with grants from USAID and the CBHF to support micro-lending in amounts as low as $1,000 for micro-mortgages and home repairs for low-income borrowers.

Over 4,000 families in Haiti will reportedly benefit from the initiative, in a country where hundreds of thousands continue to live in tent camps and temporary housing following the 2010 earthquake.

OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth Littlefield will visit Haiti to officially launch the project this week, visiting OPIC’s current project sites in Haiti.

The agency currently has a portfolio of more than $76 million across six projects in Haiti.