Brazil: Urban Reform and the Housing Package

The construction of one million homes, in the face of the Brazilian housing deficit and the current international crisis, could prove to be an important measure for the promotion of the right to the city, for the fight against unemployment and for social inclusion, so long as the programme gives priority to the interests of the people, namely the low-income population and homeless groups. In this sense, it is necessary to take into account the quantitative housing deficit in Brazil, estimated at 7.9 million homes; and the qualitative deficit, estimated at 10 million homes according to the National Housing Plan, which has been developed by the Federal Government and is currently in the process of being finalised.

We believe that a programme such as this could represent a step forward, if in practice it responds to the demands of the Brazilian movement for urban reform. FNRU believes, furthermore, that such a programme can have a positive impact on the dynamics of the economy due to its capacity for the generation of employment in the construction sector, also reaching the sectors of services, industry, commerce, technology, etc.

It is necessary, however, to take into consideration the fact that, traditionally, Brazilian housing policy has been centred on the granting of individual subsidies and credit for the purchase of private property, as well as the construction of housing units – also individualised – without effectively meeting the housing needs of the low-income population. In fact, to meet the housing needs of this sector of the population a set of measures is needed that combines (i) bringing empty or underused public properties back into use; (ii) the application of the concession of special use for housing purposes; (iii) the adoption of new forms of property ownership, such as properties owned on a cooperative basis, as is already in place in Uruguay; (iv) the fine-tuning of financing modalities and the adoption of new modalities of housing service provision, such as subsidised rent; and (v) technical assistance combined with resources for the promotion of housing through self-management or for the purchase of building materials, among others. The central issue is to fight against the pattern of peripheral, precarious and segregating housing provision for low-income groups which has characterised housing policy and is still in force, on a large scale, in Brazilian cities. In order to achieve this, it is essential to make every effort to make use of the existing instruments for urban reform, such as the Statute of the City, the National System of Social Interest Housing (SNHIS), the National Social Interest Housing Fund (FNHIS) and the recently approved Federal Law 11.888/2008 for Technical Assistance.

In this way, with a view to ensuring that the programme which has been announced is carried out from the perspective of the right to the city, FNRU considers it necessary to respect the following aspects:

1 . Priority should be given to housing construction that is in line with the national policy for urban development, ensuring that the construction of one million new homes is carried out in accordance with the National Housing Plan (PLANHAB) that is being finalised by the National Council of Cities in collaboration with the Ministry of Cities.

2.  Priority should be given to families with household incomes of 0 to 3 times the minimum monthly wage – which is the income range that concentrates 90 per cent of the housing deficit – given that these are the families that are in greatest need and have the greatest difficulties in accessing the housing programmes. One of these measures should include the establishment of a Guarantee Fund to facilitate access to funding and cover the repayments of those borrowers who lose their source of income.

3.  The programme should adopt mechanisms for environmental sustainability, such as the use of certified timber, solar energy, the rational use of water and the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage in a technically correct manner.

4.  Priority should be given to the Social Production of Housing, with technical assistance based on Federal Law 11.888/08.

5.  Priority should be given to the allocation of resources for the large urban centres, in central areas with existing infrastructure and services and with different funding parameters, such that the public and private sectors prioritise the establishment of housing in locations that offer health services, education, transport and basic sanitation, reversing the current tendency to concentrate low-income housing developments in distant areas, without social and urban infrastructure, leading to an increase in segregation and urban violence.

6.  It should be mandatory for providers of public sanitation and energy services to implement water, sanitation and energy infrastructure in the low-income housing programmes, taking into account the fact that these investments will be recovered through the collection of payments made by future residents for the respective services. It is important to emphasise that this investment, which represents, on average, 6 per cent of the cost of the housing unit, is currently funded either by the contractors (who pass on the cost to the residents) or by the Municipal Government. In this sense, it is also essential to regulate the national law of environmental sanitation (law 11.445/07), to ensure that sanitation services are made universal, with social control over these.

7.  Parallel to the construction of new housing, the implementation of a policy for the regulation of land use and the instruments specified in the Statute of the City should be ensured, with a view to inhibiting real estate speculation and keeping up the pressure for unused urban spaces to be occupied.

8.  The resources should be allocated through the National Social Interest Housing Fund, therefore ensuring that their use is carried out with social control: that is, with the participation of organised civil society. In addition, it should be ensured that more resources are allocated to the federal programme linked to the “Action of Support for the social production of housing” and the Solidarity Credit Programme, in order to stimulate the initiatives of self-managed groups, organised in community-based associations and housing cooperatives.

9.  There should be a reduction of bureaucracy in the implementation of the housing developments and speeding up of the procedures for contracting, initiation and delivery of the construction work.

10.  The expropriation of land and property should be carried out with federal resources; in addition, there should be a speeding up of the process to make available public lands belonging to the Union, the Federal Railway Network (RFFSA) and the National Institute of Social Security (INSS).

11.  Access to serviced land for the low-income population should be promoted, including programmes and processes of land tenure regularisation, particularly in areas already classified as Special Zones of Social Interest (ZEIS) by the Municipal Master Plans, thus ensuring the accessibility of resources to the urban poor for the improvement and adaptation of infrastructure and services, home improvement and the regularisation of informal settlements.

12.  Social control should be present in all phases of implementation of these measures, so as to seek to avoid the waste, diversion or uncontrolled appropriation of resources by the contractors, thus guaranteeing the commencement and conclusion of the construction work and benefiting those who need it most: namely women, Afro-descendants and the elderly.

FNRU hopes that the package, when announced, will take into account the points mentioned above and that the programme for the construction of one million homes will represent one more step in the construction of just and democratic cities.

For the Right to Adequate Housing!

For Urban Reform!

FASE – Federação de Órgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional (Federation of Organisations for Social and Educational Assistance)

CONAM – Confederação Nacional de Associações de Moradores (National Confederation of Residents’ Associations)

CMP – Central de Movimentos Populares (Centre for Popular Movements)

MNLM – Movimento Nacional de Luta pela Moradia (National Movement on the Struggle for Housing)       

UNMP – União Nacional por Moradia Popular (National Union for Popular Housing)

Action Aid – Brazil

AGB – Associação dos Geógrafos Brasileiros (Association of Brazilian Geographers)

ANTP – Associação Nacional de Transportes Públicos (National Association for Public Transport)

Bento Rubião – Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos (Centre for the Defence of Human Rights)

CAAP – Centro de Assessoria à Autogestão Popular (Advisory Centre for Popular Self-Management)

COHRE Américas – (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions)

Conselho Federal do Serviço Social (Federal Council for Social Services)

Habitat for Humanity

Fórum Sul de Reforma Urbana (Southern Forum for Urban Reform)

Fórum Nordeste de Reforma Urbana (Northeast Forum for Urban Reform)

FAOR – Fórum da Amazônia Oriental / GT-Urbano (Forum of the East Amazon)

FAOC – Fórum da Amazônia Occidental (Forum of the West Amazon)

IBAM – Instituto Brasileiro de Administração Municipal (Brazilian Institute of Municipal Administration)

IBASE – Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses)

FENAE – Federação Nacional das Associações de Empregados da Caixa Econômica (National Federation of Associations of Caixa Econômica Employees)

FENEA – Federação Nacional dos Estudantes de Arquitetura e Urbanismo do Brasil (National Federation of Students of Architecture and Urban Planning, Brazil)

FISENGE – Federação Interestadual dos Sindicatos de Engenharia (Interstate Federation of Engineering Unions)

FNA – Federação Nacional dos Arquitetos e Urbanistas (National Federation of Architects and Urban Planners)

POLIS – Instituto de Estudos, Formação e Assessoria em Políticas Sociais (Institute for Consultancy, Training and Studies on Social Policies)

ABEA – Associação Brasileira de Ensino de Arquitetura e Urbanismo (Brazilian Association for Architecture and Urbanism Teaching)

Observatório das metrópolis (Metropolis Observatory) 

Click here and see the statement from FISENGE regarding the Programme for the construction of 1 million homes.

See also the statement from the National Federation of Architects (FNA)