{"id":18293,"date":"2014-10-03T16:07:39","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T19:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=18293"},"modified":"2015-12-21T16:06:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-21T19:06:56","slug":"presidential-candidates-lean-on-minha-casa-minha-vida-promises-for-electoral-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=18293","title":{"rendered":"Despite Questions, Presidential Candidates Lean on Federal Housing Program for Electoral Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In 2009, a new federal housing program, Minha Casa Minha Vida<\/a> (MCMV) or My Life My House, redirected resources for housing and local development in urban Brazil towards\u00a0mass-construction of public housing<\/a>. Just five years later, roughly two million housing units have been constructed nationwide, and the program has received both fierce criticism and high praise. As the presidential elections near, promises of expanding Minha Casa Minha Vida are pervasive, as the three leading candidates have all pledged to support expanding the program.<\/p>\n

At its start, MCMV offered new financial mechanisms for the housing of low-income families by providing subsidies to the private construction sector, which would be responsible for design and construction of homes. Under this model, the federal government sought to achieve the dual goal of lowering the housing deficit (estimated at 7.2 million units in 2009) and stimulating the economy through the construction sector. The federal bank CAIXA was to be responsible for setting minimum requirements for design and quality of construction as well as\u00a0administering the program. In its design, MCMV is very similar to other large-scale housing programs pursued in Latin American countries such as Chile or Mexico under economic reforms which sought to devolve State responsibilities to the private sector.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

MCMV in Rio de Janeiro<\/h3>\n

Locally, according to CAIXA, 66,270<\/a> housing units have been contracted under the MCMV housing program in Rio de Janeiro. Of these, roughly half (33,363) are destined for families in Band 1, the lowest eligible income group, for households earning up to three minimum wages or less than R$1600 (US$713) per month. According to municipal officials, a minimum of R$75,000 (US$34,000) is spent per unit on homes built under the MCMV program, totaling at least R$5 billion (US$2.27 billion) in expenditures in Rio so\u00a0far. The focus on housing construction has taken attention away\u00a0from other more effective approaches to housing and urban development for the poor, such as Rio\u2019s innovative Morar Carioca program<\/a>, which promised to integrate all of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas by 2020 through both physical and social infrastructure but has now been mis-implemented<\/a>\u00a0and abandoned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Based on the mere scale of the program–both in Rio and nationwide–many in government and the construction industry are eager to declare MCMV a success. While it is worth evaluating the effectiveness of the MCMV finance model and consider quantitative reductions in\u00a0the\u00a0housing deficit, serious qualitative concerns have been raised regarding the location and quality of such housing and the experiences of low-income families that are relocated there.<\/p>\n

Significant Downsides<\/h3>\n

As illustrated in the official City map below, the majority of MCMV\u00a0housing projects in Rio (especially those for Band 1 families) have been built in the far West Zone<\/a>, oftentimes over two hours\u00a0from employment opportunities and important\u00a0services or amenities. The resulting geography of public housing in Rio is similar to that of other countries which have implemented this housing model. This despite Rio being known for the proximity of its favela affordable housing stock to the formal city in central areas<\/a>. But now, as land acquisition and planning is left to the private construction sector, the cheapest land on the periphery is selected by default. Since the 1980s in Santiago de Chile, this lack of planning for public housing created homogeneous, isolated\u00a0ghettos of poverty<\/a>, even leading the government to demolish several failed housing projects<\/a> under the Second Opportunities<\/a> program just last year.<\/p>\n

\"habitese_MCMV_Map\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An isolated location has a myriad of negative effects on residents. For employment, a two to three hour commute makes it difficult, if not impossible, to access or maintain a job in one of the more centrally-located employment hubs of the city. Similarly, research by Vincente Netto shows that long distances have a negative effect on social and familial networks<\/a> for very low-income families, and the social isolation<\/a> typical of vertical\u00a0housing especially affects\u00a0the elderly. Additionally, the remote locations and absence of state services have created conditions that allowed militia groups<\/a> to emerge and assert their power in several of these housing projects. In August, a large militia was uncovered in the West Zone<\/a> that controlled over 1,600 MCMV housing units in the area. These militias not only create a culture of violence and fear in the housing projects, but they were also found to be charging residents illegally for water, electricity, and other basic services, putting an additional strain on already limited household budgets. Taking control even further, militias are known to impede residents’ rights to participate<\/a> in the political process during and outside of election cycles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attention has also been drawn to the poor construction quality<\/a> of MCMV apartments, with residents frequently experiencing cracking, peeling paint, faulty plumbing and flooding in their homes<\/a>. In\u00a0a notable\u00a0case R$19 million invested in new buildings was lost when they had to be\u00a0demolished due to enormous\u00a0cracks<\/a>. In several cases, residents have reported such problems within just a few months of moving in, which does not bode well for the durability of such units. Due to the lack of government involvement in the process, blame is often passed between CAIXA for providing insufficient oversight on the projects and the construction companies for taking shortcuts or insufficient precautions in the construction process.<\/p>\n

A range of additional issues with the MCMV program are a result of its strict rules.\u00a0Public housing residents often come from a\u00a0highly flexible favela environment, where they were able to remodel their homes with the birth of a baby\u00a0or the marriage\u00a0of an adult child. They were accustomed to making ends meet by starting a business in rough times. In MCMV housing, none of this is allowed. Businesses are not permitted<\/a>. Families are forbidden from keeping pets, extending washing\u00a0on balconies (even when apartments do not have such facilities), and organizing group religious service. Oftentimes wide roads and parking are prioritized over playgrounds and leisure space. Public housing is simply not designed\u00a0with an eye<\/a> to maintain the qualities of favelas while addressing their deficiencies.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that certain MCMV projects, mostly those with extra funding and support from the city government, have managed to avoid these detrimental trends of peripheral location and lack of services.\u00a0Bairro Carioca project in Triagem<\/a> is perhaps most representative of a transit-oriented and service-rich project, despite some of the issues listed above still applying.<\/p>\n

Presidential Candidates Unanimous in\u00a0Pledging Expansion<\/h3>\n

As the elections approach, however, even\u00a0with mounting\u00a0concerns with homes built under the Minha Casa Minha Vida program, which draw into question the sustainability of the program over time, funding and housing targets have continually risen since its inception. This escalation has been particularly prevalent in the current election cycle. Just weeks before the campaign period began in July, President Dilma Rousseff<\/a>\u00a0of the Workers Party (PT) announced Minha Casa Minha Vida 3, a new iteration of the program to be carried out through 2015. While the substantive changes of MCMV 3 relative to the current policy remains unclear, it does suggest a renewed support and enthusiasm for the program. Under MCMV 3, the nationwide housing target was raised to 3 million<\/a> units by 2015.<\/p>\n

More recently, in the immediate run-up to the elections, Rousseff announced\u00a0350,000 units<\/a> are planned for the first semester of 2015, proudly claiming responsibility for the largest scale housing program in Brazil or perhaps all of Latin America. MCMV has been heavily featured in Rousseff\u2019s campaign materials and platform, even releasing a TV commercial<\/a> based on the potential\u00a0of MCMV to fulfil the dream of homeownership for millions of Brazilians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nAfter accusations by Rousseff’s campaign that the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) candidate Marina Silva was going to eliminate the housing program, Silva has made strong statements\u00a0of commitment and support for MCMV, promising to expand the program’s coverage to 4 million units. During a walk through Rocinha<\/a>, the candidate said: “Our commitment is to treat communities with respect to their territory and their cultural identity. And we have a the objective of increasing the MCMV program\u00a0to\u00a04 million units, with programs to attend to communities in their own spaces of housing, urbanizing and creating living spaces; implementing full-time education, giving value to spaces of love and culture in communities.”<\/p>\n

The Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) candidate, senator A\u00e9cio Neves made similar promises to expand the MCMV program<\/a>, despite the fact that it has been a key program of Rousseff’s Worker’s Party (PT). He has promised more focus on the lowest-income families, which the construction sector has been more reluctant to build for under the Minha Casa Minha Vida framework.<\/p>\n

The broad support for the Minha Casa Minha Vida program across disparate political parties is unsurprising, as the program is highly politically attractive. The severe concerns raised about the long-term impacts of an investment in mass-scale low-income housing for both beneficiary families and the city at large are conveniently well beyond the scope of any politician\u2019s cycle or even re-election aspirations, making it easier for politicians to absolve themselves of responsibility for the program over the broader horizon.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the immediate benefits of growth and employment in the construction sector and the discursive social benefits of providing a home to all Brazilians create quite a powerful political platform. While researchers, such as Krause, Balbum and Neto at the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) have questioned whether MCMV is truly concerned with housing or rather pure\u00a0economic growth<\/a>, the ability of MCMV to produce housing units for low-income families is unparalleled, creating much popular support for the program. Additionally, the leading role of the construction sector in financing political campaigns<\/a> is surely influential and merits further investigation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Tool of Eviction<\/h3>\n

The seemingly unquestioned political support for the continuation and expansion of MCMV in the mainstream political debate is not shared by many favela residents and activists in Rio de Janeiro. Residents from dozens of communities faced with eviction<\/a> to MCMV projects,\u00a0due to infrastructure works for the 2016 Olympic Games<\/a>, have been very vocal regarding their fears about moving and distrust of the program. In Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>, residents have organized to save their community since the first threats of evictions in 2009. Throughout their community are signs, and at their protests banners, reading, \u201cMy House, My Life, is the one I built\u201d–a play\u00a0on\u00a0the name of the housing program. In 2011 in Provid\u00eancia, artists and residents painted a mural<\/a>\u00a0showing residents\u00a0resisting eviction\u00a0holding a<\/a> “My House My Life” poster. In these\u00a0high profile cases, some families have accepted offers to move\u00a0to MCMV housing<\/a>, frustrated with the tense state of their communities, while others hold strong in their resistance<\/a>. In many others, however, without a spotlight on their struggle or sufficient knowledge of their rights, residents succumb to municipal pressure, frequently exercised through intimidation and cooptation. For them, MCMV is a downgrade, representing\u00a0a setback<\/a> of potentially decades in their development.<\/p>\n

Sara McTarnaghan is a Masters student at the University of Texas at Austin studying Community and Regional Planning and Latin American Studies. Her research is on public housing policy in Chile and Brazil.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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