Social housing under the Workers’ Party government: an analysis of the private sector in Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the patterns of government intervention in social housing in Brazil to analyse the role of the private sector in the elaboration and implementation of social housing policies during the Workers’ Party government. It draws on case study research, and I examine areas which impact on the way social housing has been implemented since 2003 to study the concentration of decision power the private construction sector has on social housing policymaking, which sets the tone of government intervention on social housing. I argue this was part of the Workers’ Party’s approach to neoliberal policies in a more moderated style, a type of intervention repeated on numerous occasions under previous administrations. This article concludes by noting the prominent role of the private sector in social housing developments.

Keywords:

• Housing
• private sector
• neoliberalism
• social movements
• Brazil

Notes

1. Valença, Poor Politics – Poor Housing, 391; Valença, Moraes, and Fialho Bonates, “Trajectory of Social Housing Policy”; Bonduki, “Origens da Habitaçao Social,” 711; Bonduki, “Housing Policies and Politics,” 70; Bonduki, “Urban and Housing Policy,” 176; Rolnik, A cidade e a lei, 101–44; and Cardoso, Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida, 7.

2. Maricato, Brasil, Cidades; Azevedo and Andrade, Habitação e poder, Azevedo, “Política de Habitação Popular”; Cardoso and Aragão, “Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida,” 17.

3. IBGE, Pesquisa de Informacoes Basicas Municipais.

4. Dagnino and Teixeira, “Participation of Civil Society”; Teixeira, Os Sentidos da Democracia; Teixeira, De Souza, and Pompeu Fiuza Lima, Arquitetura da participação no Brasil.

5. Cardoso and Aragão, “Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida”; and Krause, Balbim, and Correia Lima Neto, Onde fica política habitacional.

6. Donaghy, Civil Society and Participatory Governance; and Coelho, “Brazil’s Health Councils.”

7. Stedile, Boff, and Chaui, Leituras da Crise.

8. Morais and Saad-Filho, “Neo-Developmentalism and the Challenges”; Petras, Brasil e Lula: Ano Zero; Antunes, “Trade Unions, Social Conflict”; and Sánchez, Borges Neto, and Marques, “Brazil. Lula’s Government.”

9. Dauvergne and Farias, “Rise of Brazil.”

10. Bonduki, “Housing Policies and Politics”; and Bonduki, “Urban and Housing Policies.”

11. Bonduki, “Origens da Habitacao Social,” 711.

12. Bonduki and Koury, Os Pioneiros Da Habitação, 18–40.

13. Bonduki, “Origens da Habitacao Social,” 724.

14. Bonduki, “Housing Policies and Politics.”

15. McGregor et al., “Do Elections Matter,” 3.

16. Mioto, “Política Habitacional na América Latina,” p. 185.

17. Cardoso et al., Da Euforia a Crise, 19.

18. IBGE, Pesquisa de Informacoes Basicas Municipais.

19. Cavalcanti, “Normative, Institutional Social Housing System,” 5.

20. Cardoso, “Da Euforia a Crise,” 19.

21. Bonduki, “Urban and Housing Policy.”

22. Cardoso and Aragão, “O Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida E Seus Efeitos.”

23. Furtado, Brasil: a construção interrompida, 32.

24. Mioto, “Política Habitacional na América Latina,” 187–8.

25. Mendonça, “Prudential Regulation and Safety Net,” 189.

26. Mioto, “Política Habitacional na América Latina,” 189.

27. Paula and Sobreira, “The 2008 Financial Crisis,” 77.

28. Ibid., 91.

29. Oliveira, J., “Política Social e Política Econômica,” 331–2.

30. Ibid., 332.

31. Rolnik and Nakano, “Trap of Housing Packages,” 3–4.

32. Arretche et al., Capacidades Administrativas Dos Municípios.

33. Bonduki, “Housing Policies and Politics”; and Jesus, A Política Pública Habitacional.

34. Diniz, Difícil Rota Do Desenvolvimento, 80.

35. Bonduki, “Housing Policies and Politics”; Ribeiro and Azevedo, A Crise Da Moradia; Oliveira, “Política Social e Política Econômica,” 333–5.

36. National Housing Plan, 2009 (based on Law 11.124/2005).

37. Motta, A Questão Da Habitação No Brasil.

38. Donaghy, Civil Society and Participatory Governance, 157.

39. Tatagiba et al., Inovacoes Participativas nas Politicas Habitacionais, 6–9.

40. Ibid., 7.

41. Ibid., 8.

42. Viana, Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida, 56.

43. Dias, “Rearticulação Da Política Habitacional.”

44. Vanden, “Taking the Streets, Swarming Public Spaces,” 242.

45. Bresser-Pereira, “Empresários, O Governo do PT”; and Baiocchi, “Emergent Public Spheres.”

46. Morais and Saad-Filho, “Neo-Developmentalism and the Challenges.”

47. Dagnino and Teixeira, “Participation of Civil Society,” 52–3.