Alvarado and Gilda Espinal, the coordinator of the Land Rights Project, spend almost half their time in the Property Institute offering assistance and oversight with the technical registration and titling processes. They have created manuals of correct processes and encouraged a more organized, transparent approach to titling land.
639 New Land Titles Promise Security And Opportunity
June 30, 2016
Last Monday, Honduras’ Property Institute delivered 639 property titles to residents of various neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa. For the recipients, many of whom had lived in their homes for decades, it was an emotional moment, the end of a process that had stretched on for years. These property titles proved at last that they were the rightful owners of their homes.
Despite an estimated one million unregistered plots of land in urban areas, over the past ten years, the Property Institute has only registered an average of 4,500 annually. The process of registering and titling land is long and complex, and sometimes it stalls completely. In 2015 and the beginning of 2016 the Property Institute delivered no titles at all.
The uncertainty of living in an unregistered home drastically affects the urban poor, who without a title, face the risk of losing their homes.
“Many of these people have lived on the property for a long time and are elderly now,” said Anajansi Alvarado, an auditor and investigator with ASJ’s (formerly known as AJS) Land Rights project. “If they die there is no guarantee that their family will inherit their property.”
Land is also many of these families most valuable asset, though without a legal title, this value is “trapped” – it can’t be mortgaged or used as collateral for a loan.
“Many of these people can’t find jobs, and the loans they are able to get with their titles allow them to start a business,” said Alvarado. “They could not have gotten this money otherwise. It gives them many more opportunities to improve their lives.”
The partnership with the Property Institute has not always been an easy one. In March of 2014, ASJ signed an agreement allowing ASJ to provide oversight and transparency to the Property Institute. But that year, titles were prepared sloppily, ignoring the manual and advice ASJ provided. The Land Rights project took a sample of titles to audit – every single one had an error.
ASJ said they couldn’t approve the delivery of the titles. Even seemingly small errors could cause big problems for the recipients. Names spelled incorrectly could invalidate the title, property titles with the name, for example, of the husband, but not the wife threatened equal ownership and inheritance. People with bad titles would have to return to the Property Institute and ask for a correction, an additional expense, and an undetermined wait.
Despite the protests of ASJ, the titles were delivered anyway.
The Land Rights project didn’t give up. They continued to meet with the Property Institute, offering advice and oversight and working slowly on improving policies, speeding up processes, and getting things right the first time.
Since 2014, ASJ has overseen the preparation of 9,220 property titles for plots of land in the two largest cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. What’s different about these 639 titles, however, is that they are the first that ASJ has observed from the beginning and the first that they certify as being fully correct, accurate, and legal.
The quality of these titles is directly tied to ASJ’s support, something the Property Institute acknowledged when they invited ASJ president Carlos Hernández to attend the event where he symbolically delivered titles to waiting families.
In a speech at the public event, the head of the Property Institute, Ebal Díaz, highlighted the institutional support that the Property Institute has received from ASJ in guaranteeing that the titles that are delivered to citizens are of high quality and are granted through a legal and transparent process. “We have opened the doors to ASJ to accompany this important process,” he said.
Juan Orlando Hernández, President of Honduras, also praised ASJ’s oversight, not just in the Property Institute, but in all the largest state entities.
These 639 titles are just the beginning of what the Land Rights project hopes will be a faster, more accurate, and more responsive process. Over a thousand more titles should be ready within the month, improving the prospects and security of many thousands of individuals.
The challenge of making systems work can be slow and difficult, but it can also be life-changing.
Doña Enemesia, aged 70, has lived for more than 30 years in her house in one neighborhood in Tegucigalpa. “Today I completed my dream to have my property title,” she told the Property Institute, who published her story on their Facebook page. “With my property title now I can fix my house. I can get a loan and my family can have a better life.”
“For us a title is just a piece of paper,” said Anajansi Alvarado, “but for the people receiving it, it means much more.”
Hondurans cast their ballots during the November 30, 2025, general election, which saw historic voter turnout and a peaceful process supported by more than 12,000 national and international election observers working to safeguard transparency.
ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US
A call to action for Honduras
The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025
Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections
Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.
Calvin alums turn faith into action through nonprofit
MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Thank You for Moving Forward With Us this Summer!
When Policies Shift, Families Pay the Price * by Jo Ann Van Engen
