An Affordable Community that Runs Itself
In 2004, Santamaría was studying at the Pedagogical University in La Ceiba and already teaching on Roatan. While renting an apartment on the island, he asked himself if it would be possible to build an affordable home there. He contacted FUNDEVI, an NGO that focuses on assisting Honduran families without any homes, or land to build homes. The FUNDEVIS initial answer was that the land was too expensive; Santamaría persisted and obliged himself to find land, and coordinated all the construction for the future homes.
He persisted, and in 2006 the 10 acre development of 138 homes broke ground. Its residents decided to name the colonia after Elmer’s last name. “Santa María is a blessed place,” said Elmer Santamaría. “Thanks God and FUNDEVI we could have purchased the land [lots] for Lps. 50,000.” That was around $3,000 back then, and now those 10×12 meter lots with houses sell for Lps. 700,000 and more.
When the project broke ground, Dixon Cove was a place few people knew about. Santamaría seemed far away, not only as far as location on the main road, it was also two hundred meters up a dirt road in then typical island bush. “There was nothing around our homes, just forests,” remembers Santamaría. In those times there was no Mahogany Bay, no Galaxy Wave, and no Dixon Cove Municipal Building. These all came in the years following the establishment of the housing development.
Everyone paid off their homes. They are free.
The cay in constructing Santamaría was keeping costs to the minimum. The workers for the project came from Yoro, the house’s doors also came from Yoro, and cement came from La Ceiba. “We were buying sand from the mainland. We were buying from hardware store in Colón to save money,” remembers the construction phase Elmer Santamaría.
The home owners had 10 years to pay off their loans. “FUNDEVI gave us the keys to our homes and we started paying. Now everyone paid off their homes. They are free,” said Elmer.
As time went on and their families grew, many Santamaría residents took out additional loans to fund the expansion of their homes. Especially popular with the small lenders were lending institutions such as IMPREMA and Banco de los Trabajadores.
The homeowners created a patronato, and set a system at keeping their community safe and attractive. The community focused on sobriety and family values in order to assure safety. There are four pulpería stores at Santa María, and every one of them signed a pledge not to sell alcoholic beverages. “We don’t allow sell of alcoholic drinks here, we don’t permit billiard halls,” says Elmer.
As Elmer Santamaría is the founder of the community, everyone knows him here and says hello as he walks by. Elmer is currently the treasurer of the Santa María patronato and in the afternoons he works at José Santos Guardiola High School. He has a large farm near La Ceiba that produces rambutan fruit plantains, citrus, and cacao. He exports rambutan to USA via El Salvador.
According to Elmer Santamaría, 2,500 people now live in the Dixon Cove area. Directly to the north of Santa María there is Colonia Dulce María, and the future public hospital is a walk away to the west.
Santa María is home to an eclectic mixture of mainlanders.
Today, Santa María is home to an eclectic mixture of mainlanders who came to the island in the last 20 years. Prof. Miguel Angel Mathias, 76, who has lived across the street from the Colonia say it is a safe place. Prof Mathis lives next door to the Catholic Church and has the keys to the buildings. The Colonia has also two evangelical prayer halls and a Seventh Day Adventist Church.
The community has eight streets running east to west. Several of them are soon to be paved. Santa María has a football field, a children’s playground, and a two-story school building. The school is named after Graciela Ofelia Ramos and it houses a kindergarten, a grade school, and a high school. Some colonia projects are built with funds from water fees, as every house in the Colonia pays Lps. 250 for water access.
It is still very difficult to organize and construct a low income housing community on Roatan. Almost twenty years no other FUNDEVI project has been done on the island. Elmer believes it could be done, but it needs someone who will be the driving force behind the entire effort.
