The National Housing Institute (INVI) is owed some RD$1.2 billion by people who have been given homes by the government over the years. Dating back to the early 1960s, some people owe payments of RD$18 and other debts from back in 1978 are for RD$1500 or RD$2000. According to Diario Libre, many of the beneficiaries believe that the housing was a gift from the winning party after the elections. Others think that they can sell the properties, return to their former homes and await new government largesse and get a newer unit. The INVI files contain plenty of evidence of this tactic. According to the INVI director, architect Alma Fernandez, in the project of Villa Progreso in La Herradura in Santiago alone, where 512 apartments were built for people displaced by the tropical storms Noel and Olga, at a cost of RD$286,825,000, the INVI found out that eight months after being delivered, some 32 beneficiaries had sold theirs on.