Social housing and accessibility in Brazil?s unequal cities

Author(s)

Leite, Camila Cardoso ; Giannotti, Mariana ; Gonsalves, Gilmara

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: HABITAT INTERNATIONAL; v. 127, p. 9-pg., 2022-08-17.

Abstract

Ensuring equal access to opportunities while assessing the housing needs of low-income populations has been a significant challenge in many global south countries. Social housing programs have been recurrently criticized for reinforcing inequalities by ignoring the poor conditions of urban access. This study evaluates the urban access of a national social housing program, My House My Life (Minha Casa Minha Vida, MCMV), in Brazil, one of the most unequal countries in the world. This program is renowned for building many of its housing projects in urban outskirts. We use job accessibility metrics to identify differences and similarities in MCMV housing production in six large Brazilian cities through a comparative lens. We find that although MCMV beneficiaries have less access to job opportunities than average-income citizens, the program may improve their conditions compared to in-dividuals with similar income levels within central cities. We hope that future studies may expand this work to include the surrounding metropolitan areas, which were not considered due to data restrictions. We also expect to encourage other efforts in the investigation of social housing impacts through spatial data science, especially in evaluating accessibility in large-scale social housing programs. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/07616-7 - CEM - Center for Metropolitan Studies
• Grantee: Eduardo Cesar Leão Marques
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC