{"id":33033,"date":"2016-10-31T11:16:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T14:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=33033"},"modified":"2018-01-15T13:10:29","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T16:10:29","slug":"housing-policy-lessons-from-rios-favelas-part-3-distrust-gentrification-and-titling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=33033","title":{"rendered":"Housing Policy Lessons from Rio’s Favelas Part 3: Distrust, Gentrification and Titling"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This is the third\u00a0in a five-part series titled Housing Policy Lessons from Rio\u2019s Favelas<\/a>. We hope this series will inform debates on housing and favela upgrading and that Rio\u2019s new\u00a0mayor, Marcelo Crivella, will design policies that address the challenges favelas face while recognizing and strengthening their attributes, by actively engaging with residents in policy design and implementation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lesson 5:<\/strong> The day-to-day relationship with the City is marked by distrust due to deceptive ‘participation,’ weak promises, a lack of follow through, and historic precedent<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n

\u201cThe City doesn\u2019t come here much. We don\u2019t see anything\u00a0here of\u00a0the benefits from the City, even including\u00a0the preschool that we have.\u201d \u2013 Cabritos<\/a>, South Zone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Favelas are characterized by their\u00a0informality<\/a>\u00a0due to lack of regulation,\u00a0so by definition the city government has traditionally neglected them. This legacy dates back to the late 19th<\/sup> century when the first favelas appeared on the urban landscape. Since then, the dominant\u00a0policy towards\u00a0favelas\u00a0has been one of denial or neglect.<\/p>\n

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

\n

\u201cBefore, public policies never came to\u00a0the favela. The biggest difficulties don\u2019t come from inside, they come from outside. When you start making a change, it always comes from inside first. Then the public policies come and limit the autonomy, respect and identity of the place. It is never a structural change that comes.\u201d \u2013 City of God<\/a>, West Zone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe have to pressure the state and look out for our communities because no one looks out for us. We don\u2019t have any representation at all.\u201d \u2013 Vidigal<\/a>, South Zone<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The city of Rio should adopt policies that do a better job of understanding how communities work and design programs that offer technical aid and know-how<\/a>\u00a0rather than imposing a top-down approach, and that are sustained as necessary.<\/p>\n

Based on continuous repetitive\u00a0experience, administration after administration, residents are suspicious on many fronts: whether a policy’s stated intention to benefit residents is truthfully its aim; whether the community’s priorities established in public meetings will be respected in project design; in what ways the policy’s implementation will differ from how it’s presented or written on paper; whether the policy\u00a0will come to fruition at all; what sorts of consequences have not been thought through that might appear with implementation; and\u00a0whether the program will be abandoned mid-implementation.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think the housing laws are really good. The laws are marvelous. The problem is the application. I wouldn\u2019t change anything about the laws. I would only better execute these great laws related to housing.\u201d \u2013 Babil\u00f4nia<\/a>, South Zone
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Housing<\/a> and favela upgrading<\/a> policies must be executed in a way that will generate trust among\u00a0residents. Principally, this means legitimate execution and implementation of these projects.\u00a0Based on historical precedent, residents\u00a0expect policies to be executed haphazardly and not fully.<\/p>\n

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

Lesson 6: Rio\u2019s communities are changing quickly and proactive policies have never been more\u00a0important<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There is little doubt that Rio has been experiencing massive urban transformations over the past few years that have accompanied the preparations for the World Cup<\/a> and the Olympics<\/a>, including\u00a0public policy programs like Morar Carioca<\/a>, Minha Casa Minha Vida<\/a> and the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The massive\u00a0rise in cost of living<\/a> in Rio from 2009 through 2014 affected almost all neighborhoods, even\u00a0favelas like\u00a0Mar\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0where conflicts with police abound\u00a0in Rio’s North Zone. In some cases\u00a0gentrification<\/a>\u00a0was at play, even in Rio’s favelas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think this idea of gentrification still doesn\u2019t apply for a variety of reasons [in most neighborhoods]. Where I see indices of gentrification is Vidigal.\u201d \u2013 Rio de Janeiro Federal University’s Institute of Urban and Regional Planning Research (UFRJ\/IPPUR)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Expensive cities around the world today are working to guarantee affordability through regulation, from New York<\/a> to London<\/a>. In Rio, still 20th<\/a> on the global scale despite Brazil’s recession, nothing is yet being done to reduce this effect and prevent residents from being priced out\u00a0of their homes.<\/p>\n

One approach is for public policies to\u00a0focus on making the conditions of residents themselves better–investing in the people, not just the place, through empowering programs in education, health, sanitation and general quality-of-life improvements (that do not translate into cost of living increases). This serves the dual benefit of upgrading\u00a0the area as well as improving\u00a0the lives of residents and empowering them to stay where they are.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe know the value of\u00a0our land.\u201d \u2013 Asa Branca<\/a>, West Zone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While politicians and citizens often see\u00a0increases in housing costs as “natural” about which\u00a0“nothing can be done<\/a>“,\u00a0academics\u00a0surveyed for this series saw\u00a0the increase in prices as a negative phenomenon in need of a policy response.<\/p>\n

The truth is that housing costs are influenced by policy and as such policies can be better designed to maintain housing affordable. Explicit policies to do this, none of which have been tried in Rio but all of which have become common in others among the world’s most expensive cities, include\u00a0rent control and inclusionary zoning, as well as\u00a0Community Land Trusts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead in Rio there is a claim that the government cannot regulate the value of housing, yet it inadvertently does, and as such\u00a0stimulates gentrification, by implementing policies like: the provision of\u00a0poor quality public housing that does not effectively satisfy the demand for housing and thus maintains centrally located favelas as more in-demand and thus expensive; or Pacifying Police Units which, when launched, and without careful regulation, cause major price hikes in centrally located favelas.<\/p>\n

Public policy solutions to housing and favela upgrades must be sensitive and aware of these potential effects. As with all cities, in Rio 20-30% of residents cannot afford market rates and policies must be thought up to protect them<\/a>.\u00a0Given so many favelas now provide consolidated and functional housing, specific protections are needed to ensure that their\u00a0residents are able to afford to stay\u00a0in their communities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Lesson 7: Titling in favelas is controversial <\/strong><\/h3>\n

As a development tool, giving formal individual\u00a0land titles<\/a> has long been thought to be the way to go.\u00a0The argument goes that formal land titling helps residents access\u00a0credit, provides proof of residency\u00a0for employment, and\u00a0ensures legal protections to fight removals<\/a> or resolve disputes.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think it gives greater\u00a0security of property. You live at\u00a0a fixed address and so the title is important in giving\u00a0a little more security to your residence.\u201d \u2013 Vidigal, South Zone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Formal programs that included titling have been tried since the Opera\u00e7\u00e3o Mutir\u00e3o in the 1960s<\/a>, the \u201cEach Family One Lot\u201d program in the 1980s, bolstered by the Constitution’s adverse possession provision<\/a>\u00a0in 1988, then during the\u00a0Favela Bairro program during the 1990s<\/a> and Morar Carioca, which is technically still<\/a> the City’s\u00a0upgrading policy today, despite having been abandoned<\/a> in recent years. However, for those within the favelas, the effects of these titling programs are often\u00a0unnoticeable.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis house is mine, but I still never got the deed for it. Also if I don\u2019t have the deed I also cannot sell it. If you have your title, you are naturally protected through your housing. It is important that you have it. If you are not the owner of the land, you can\u2019t fight for it.\u201d \u2013 City of God, West Zone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In theory, giving a formal title in a favela can be an important tool to reduce\u00a0the stigma<\/a> that is associated with living in an informal settlement. Oftentimes the government\u00a0will use this stigma around\u00a0informality to justify policy actions that are paternalistic at best or totalitarian at worst, and limit the rights of favela residents.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201c[Titles] can be really good in the sense of taking away the stigma of illegality from the poor population. This stigma was already used for all types of rights violations. In many moments the state relates to the poor populations in this sense \u2013 \u2018Look, you all are in an illegal situation. You should have been restrained. You should pay for this illegal occupation of the land. So, whatever thing that is done in favor or benefit of you all will be a favor that the state is doing.\u2019 So the state and this stigma of illegality are already putting the poor population in a situation of inferiority.\u201d \u2013 UFRJ\/IPPUR<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That said, holding title in Rio does not necessarily guarantee rights, as was clearly shown with the case of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>, the favela where residents held two titles from the state whose land they inhabited, yet were treated with contempt by the City as the community was slowly and violently dismantled for the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

Also,\u00a0having a title brings a residence into the formal market, which then automatically puts the resident at risk<\/a>\u00a0of instant cost of living increases associated with\u00a0the formal land tax, utilities, and the ripple effect of an entire neighborhood’s prices going up. A study in the Santa Marta favela\u00a0found that<\/a> “the increase in costs associated with regularization of services like electricity, water and cable TV overload the family budget. In addition, some residents of Santa Marta point to increases in price at local bars and small businesses, bakeries and restaurants whose prices have inflated by the new costs which they must pay and by the new clientele with greater means frequenting the community.” For residents who do not have the means to keep up with the increased cost of living that results, they run the risk of being removed by a mechanism that was supposed to have helped them.<\/p>\n

Collective titling is one policy idea<\/a> that could help secure the benefits of titling without its negative consequences. In this scenario\u00a0residents collectively own the land and individually own their structures, allowing residents to get a return on their investments while being protected from unsympathetic market forces that would push them out.\u00a0<\/strong>Hence, they get\u00a0guaranteed<\/em>\u00a0permanence for as long as\u00a0they want it<\/em>\u00a0which is the real\u00a0goal of most favela residents,\u00a0while still being able to invest in and improve their homes, and also\u00a0sell them.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think titling comes from an old form of education and from old leaders, but I see it very badly today. The land regularization along with the UPP, for me, will accelerate the process of \u2018white removal\u2019 in the favelas. You are going to raise the value of\u00a0your real estate and the favela will turn into a market.\u201d \u2013 Babil\u00f4nia, South Zone<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Brazil already has a history of collective titling with\u00a0its system for quilombos<\/a>, and some favela leaders think of their communities as essentially urban quilombos, but urban communal titling is still basically\u00a0untested. Given\u00a0the collective nature of favelas, this could be an interesting\u00a0option to test to\u00a0preserve the character of these communities while stimulating\u00a0development. In fact, the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Boston has repeatedly reported that a system of collective titling that has picked up steam in the United States and Europe–Community Land Trusts–is the most effective at preserving affordable housing<\/a> both in times of recession (when foreclosure is a real possibility) and boom (when gentrification rears its head).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was well organized, I think it would help because we would have a way of financing. For example, you want to sell your house to leave and the Caixa Econ\u00f4mica will only finance if you have a title of possession or if you have the deed to your house.\u201d\u2013 Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>, North Zone<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is important to design collective titling schemes that are participatory<\/a> and bottom-up. To do this would require making residents aware of the benefits of collective titling and working with them to form participatory networks to support it. Since\u00a0most favelas in Rio are already on public land,\u00a0were the government to embrace this approach,\u00a0it could be more easily workable than even in US cities that have been hoping to expand CLTs<\/a>. Communities with strong neighborhood\u00a0associations<\/a> would be an ideal starting point\u00a0to see whether this system could\u00a0produce a viable and replicable, resilient\u00a0solution.<\/p>\n

\n

Full Series:\u00a0Housing Policy Lessons from Rio\u2019s Favelas<\/a><\/em><\/h3>\n

Part 1: Construction and Community<\/a>
\nPart 2: Collective Action and Diverse Needs<\/a>
\nPart 3: Distrust, Gentrification and Titling<\/a>
\nPart 4: Public Housing<\/a>
\nPart 5: Proposing Solutions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas This is the third\u00a0in a five-part series titled Housing Policy Lessons from Rio\u2019s Favelas. We hope this series will inform debates on housing and favela upgrading and that Rio\u2019s new\u00a0mayor, Marcelo […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16672,"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":[1267,1854,335,329,452,1329],"tags":[1720,27,231,435,32,221,187,65,282,2122,26,936,673,147,197,989,37,152,744,725,301,10,2634,2268,156,453,206,363,21,365],"writer":[1732],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gentrificationwatch","8":"category-housingwatch","9":"category-policies","10":"category-solutions","11":"category-rio20","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-affordable-housing","14":"tag-asa-branca","15":"tag-city-of-god","16":"tag-community-land-trust","17":"tag-complexo-do-alemao","18":"tag-favela-culture","19":"tag-favela-bairro","20":"tag-gentrification","21":"tag-housing","22":"tag-housing-law","23":"tag-housing-rights","24":"tag-land-titling","25":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","26":"tag-morar-carioca","27":"tag-morro-da-babilonia","28":"tag-morro-dos-cabritos","29":"tag-north-zone","30":"tag-participation","31":"tag-policy-critique","32":"tag-policy-recommendation","33":"tag-public-policy","34":"tag-real-estate-speculation","35":"tag-series","36":"tag-series-housing-policy-lessons","37":"tag-south-zone","38":"tag-stigma","39":"tag-upgrading","40":"tag-vidigal","41":"tag-west-zone","42":"tag-zero-participation","43":"writer-david-robertson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33033","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\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33033"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=33033"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=33033"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=33033"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=33033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}