MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Saying Mexico needs to build 750,000 houses a year,
                 President Vicente Fox on Monday announced a National Housing Plan that
                 mingles heavy doses of private financing with public money.

                 "The construction of housing is one of the most important commitments and
                 challenges of my government," Fox told a conference at the presidential residence,
                 Los Pinos.

                 "In spite of the economic slowdown, we are going to be seriously building houses
                 and apartments to reactivate our economy and generate opportunities that Mexicans
                 demand," Fox said.

                 He said government-run, home-loan institutions hope to oversee the creation of
                 475,000 dwellings next year, many of them through subsidized private credits,
                 putting nearly 90 billion pesos ($9.8 billion) into the economy next year.

                 About 21 billion pesos ($2.3 billion) would go toward a plan to build 100,000 new
                 dwellings for government workers.

                 A fund for other workers, Infonavit, expects to finance 275,000 homes, a newly
                 formed national mortgage bank would back 70,000 and other programs 30,000.

                 Fox said the programs would create jobs as well as housing and he said his
                 government would try to slash red tape on construction to stimulate the industry.

                 Mexico's housing industry has been sluggish since December 1994, when a sudden
                 slide in the peso sent interest rates soaring, along with default rates, and made new
                 credit difficult to obtain.

                 That is especially true to the half of Mexico's population that makes less than about
                 $10 a day.

                 Most of the elements of the plan already had been announced. On Monday, the
                 government wove them together as a package meant to reach the goal of 750,000
                 houses a year by 2006, when Fox leaves office.

                 Many of the programs involve guarantees, subsidies or guarantees for private
                 lenders serving the upper end of the massive low-income market.

                 So far less money is aimed at programs that involve outright subsidies or grants to
                 help the poorest acquire housing.

                 With a population of 97 million and 21.9 million homes, Mexico has a housing
                 deficit of 3.6 million units and an additional 4.1 million in need of improvements,
                 according to Infonavit.

                 Demographic trends point to a demand for 30.1 million homes by 2010, so Mexico
                 would need an additional 8.2 million by then, or 745,000 a year from 2000 to 2010.

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.