Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday put his trademark moustache on the line as he promised to deliver the millionth public housing unit before the end of the year.

"I'll make a bet: If we don't deliver 1 million homes by Dec. 31, I'll cut off my moustache," the socialist leader said on his weekly television program, according to the Washington Post. "I say to you, brother and sister construction workers and engineers: Work hard so I don't have to cut off my moustache. No, that's not it; that's a joke. Work hard so our people can have a home."

Before making the promise, however, Maduro had to consult with his wife, Cilia Flores, who was present on the set, EFE reported. Flores, who previously served as the speaker of Venezuela's National Assembly, voiced no objections.

As of Oct. 14, the Venezuelan government had delivered a total of 742,501 public housing units, Housing Minister Manuel Quevedo detailed. Providing such units for poor was a signature part of the socialist agenda of Maduro's mentor and predecessor, the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the Washington Post reported.

The government has set a goal of 3 million units by 2019 to help impoverished families, many of which live in precariously built shacks in Caracas, the newspaper noted. Some of the units are built with assistance from the governments of some of Venezuela's key allies, including Russia, Iran, Uruguay and China, according to EFE.

The housing option comes with an 80 percent subsidy from the Venezuelan government and is available for "families with an income equivalent to a minimum salary," former Housing Minister Ricardo Molina explained in 2012.

Maduro's facial hair, meanwhile, makes for a worthy bet, the Washington Post's Nick Miroff argued. "This is no ordinary moustache," Miroff wrote. "The lustrous, jet-black, Selleck-esque strip crowded onto the president's upper lip is easily the most recognizable feature of a man who has struggled mightily in the shadow of (Chávez)."