Chávez vows 150,000 homes for the poor

CARACAS
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Sunday vowed to build 150,000 homes for the poor this year -- and warned that the state might expropriate some houses if people try to sell them for too much money.

Speaking at a new public housing complex on the outskirts of the capital of Caracas, Chávez said the government has built 15,921 homes in the first three months of 2006 and would speed construction to finish 150,000 by year's end to attack an acute housing shortage.

''We're going to work very hard, without rest -- Saturdays and Sundays,'' he said.

Chávez also said that if necessary, he would support a proposal by Caracas city leaders to regulate the prices of second homes, complaining of market speculation and saying the state would expropriate homes if owners are asking exorbitant prices.

If an owner holds off on selling a home while asking twice its value, Chávez said, ``we'll apply a decree to expropriate it for public use and we'll pay him what the property is really worth.''

Chávez, who is up for reelection in December, says solving the country's housing crisis is a key pillar of what he calls his socialist revolution.

Caracas is surrounded by cinder-block shantytowns built on steep, often unstable hillsides. Heavy rains and mudslides in the past year have swept away parts of some neighborhoods, leaving hundreds homeless.

Chávez said 60,000 homes should be built by midyear -- a significant increase from several months ago, when officials said they aimed for 80,000 homes in all of 2006.