{"id":22687,"date":"2015-06-20T14:27:06","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T17:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=22687"},"modified":"2015-06-20T15:06:04","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T18:06:04","slug":"the-city-announces-participatory-housing-in-port-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=22687","title":{"rendered":"Rio Announces Participatory Housing in the Port Area"},"content":{"rendered":"

A public hearing on a plan for social housing<\/a> in the Port region<\/a>\u00a0of Rio de Janeiro took place on Wednesday June 10. Housing Secretary Carlos Portinho introduced the meeting as a “point of departure from which a new housing plan will be built\u00a0collaboratively” to 140 people who attended the event, including\u00a0representatives of civil society, government agencies, researchers\u00a0and, most critically, residents of the region. An excellent analysis is available in Portuguese<\/a> by the Metropolis Observatory.<\/p>\n

The public meeting comes years after the City promised the Port region’s revitalization plans would include public housing as hundreds of families were being threatened with forced evictions in 2013.<\/p>\n

The panel consisted of Housing Secretary Carlos Portinho, Fernando Cavallieri of the municipal urban development and data analysis agency Instituto Pereira Passos (IPP), Marat Troina of the Brazilian Institute of Architects (IAB), Port Urban Development Company (CDURP) president Alberto Gomes Silva and Tarcisio Luiz Davi of the federal bank Caixa Econ\u00f4mica, responsible for financing the federal housing program M<\/em>inha Casa Minha Vida<\/em> (MCMV<\/a>), or “My House My Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event was kicked off\u00a0by Portinho who announced a\u00a0long-awaited participatory process to develop\u00a0the social housing plan for the Port area. The announcement was confirmed by Alberto Silva of CDURP. According to the City, this plan should be ready by August 2015.<\/p>\n

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

President of IPP Eduarda La Rocque presented the new Pacto do Rio (Rio Pact) project which is a “cluster of articulated compromises<\/a> between the public and private sectors, academics and civil society, based on qualified and shared information.” The Rio Pact could potentially involve CDURP if the company creates an\u00a0effective plan for a low-income housing program in the port area, including the active participation<\/a> of citizens.<\/p>\n

Following a presentation<\/a> of the socio-economic diagnosis, the panel announced a series of thematic plenary sessions<\/a> to be held between now and the end of July at CDURP headquarters, where the plan will be discussed in more detail, as well as a public consultation open to all citizens until July.<\/p>\n

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

The\u00a0objective of the plan is to\u00a0keep\u00a030,000 inhabitants of the Port in the same area–formed by\u00a0the neighborhoods of Sa\u00fade, Gamboa and Santo Cristo–by providing housing units for families who earn up to three minimum wages. This will allow residents to stay close to their jobs, schools, other services and an already established community and support network. This will have a positive impact on urban mobility and public safety, thus improving the general integration of urban space. The typical implementation\u00a0of MCMV public housing,\u00a0where low-income communities are displaced to the city\u2019s outskirts<\/a>, is not characterized by\u00a0these objectives and benefits.<\/p>\n

The Port region is currently going through an extensive process of urban renewal<\/a>, including the development of new infrastructure networks and better quality municipal services such as garbage collection and street lighting. The neighborhoods of Sa\u00fade, Gamboa and Santo Cristo are core to\u00a0this process of recovery, though their\u00a0vulnerable residents have until now been left out of the Porto Maravilha<\/em>, or “Marvellous Port,” Port revitalization project. The plan was well received with applause by the audience during and after the presentation, and was followed with positive comments from resdients. According to Gabriel, who lives in Santo Cristo, “the goal of the project is to preserve, integrate and build together. I see that there is good political will, financially and socially, seeing this human side, this search for a chat. ”<\/p>\n

Member of the Municipal Public Housing Council, Marcelo Edmundo\u00a0said:\u00a0“One fundamental question is most certainly that of improving the existing inadequate housing<\/a> conditions. There are issues related to energy, sanitation and collapsing buildings. Throughout Brazil, we applaud 13 million new homes, but the housing deficit<\/a> still remains and is critical. A new social class is introduced in the area, but we should also consider a project to improve the lives and create conditions so that current residents are not displaced<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Only a few of those present\u00a0criticized the plan. Architect and former employee of Caixa, Helena Galiza\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cIn order to reduce social inequality<\/a> in this specific area, you need to produce new housing units of social interest. Not only\u00a0resettle removed families, but also bring new low-income families to the region. Today there are about 30,000 people, and with the Porto Maravilha project\u00a0we expect\u00a0100,000. Who will the 70,000 others be and will they represent the socio-economic diversity<\/a> touted by the project? What will be the percentage of public\u00a0housing in the area?”<\/p>\n

President of the Federation of Rio de Janeiro Neighborhood Associations and member of the Municipal Public Housing Council\u00a0Sonia Rabello expressed her disappointment with the project so far, after a six-year wait for social housing to be incorporated in the\u00a0\u201cPorto Maravilha Urban Operation\u201d project<\/a>,\u00a0that was established by law in November 2009.\u00a0\u201cThis delay is dramatic,\u201d she said, further revealing<\/a> that the current movement towards participatory public housing in the area is the result of pressure from the Ministry of Cities, which\u00a0would have cut funding for the Porto Maravilha project if the City had\u00a0not made provisions for affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Rabello said: “What we need is a neighborhood project, dear Secretary. It can be combined with commerce, banks, perhaps, but we need a more concrete residential neighborhood design, in order to control the price of land, which is the main reason for the expulsion of many residents. We want a plan that protects tenants from being chased away<\/a> from their homes by owners. What are the instruments that the city will use to do this?”<\/p>\n

Rabello also suggested the introduction of a law that was already implemented in S\u00e3o Paulo called “cota de solidariedade<\/a>” (solidarity quota), that promises to produce affordable housing whenever a big enterprise builds a profitable business.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0meeting was the first of six\u00a0with the stated aim of\u00a0increasing citizen participation. The real outcome\u00a0is yet to be revealed<\/a>.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Remaining\u00a0meetings will be\u00a0held at CDURP headquarters on Rua Sacadura Cabral in the Port area on June 25 and July 2, 9, and 30.<\/p>\n

\"Rio<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A public hearing on a plan for social housing in the Port region\u00a0of Rio de Janeiro took place on Wednesday June 10. Housing Secretary Carlos Portinho introduced the meeting as a “point of departure from […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":22775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1293,1267,1668,1333,335,329,1329],"tags":[829,1669,1261,65,282,26,248,157,152,148,146,210,10,158],"writer":[1662],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22687","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-gentrificationwatch","9":"category-participationwatch","10":"category-event-reports","11":"category-policies","12":"category-solutions","13":"category-by-international-observers","14":"tag-brazilian-institute-of-architects-iab","15":"tag-cdurp","16":"tag-central-rio","17":"tag-gentrification","18":"tag-housing","19":"tag-housing-rights","20":"tag-instituto-pereira-passos-ipp","21":"tag-minha-casa-minha-vida","22":"tag-participation","23":"tag-port-region","24":"tag-porto-maravilha","25":"tag-public-housing","26":"tag-real-estate-speculation","27":"tag-smh","28":"writer-katja-majcen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22687"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=22687"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=22687"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=22687"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=22687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}