Ensuring the right to the city: Pro-poor housing, urban development and tenure legalization in Saõ Paulo, Brazil

Environment and Urbanization

Volumn 17, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 89-113

  Budds, Jessica ^a   Teixeira, Paulo ^b  

^a School of Geography   (United Kingdom)

^b Palácio Anchieta ^*  (Brazil)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HOUSING POLICY; HOUSING PROVISION; INFORMAL SETTLEMENT; LOW INCOME HOUSING; TENURE SYSTEM; URBAN DEVELOPMENT;

BRAZIL; SAO PAULO [BRAZIL]; SAO PAULO [SAO PAULO (STT)]; SOUTH AMERICA; WESTERN HEMISPHERE; WORLD;

EID: 18144388301     PISSN: 09562478     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1630/0956247053633809     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Habita Sampa (SEHAB Bulletin), March 2004.
2. Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) 2000 census.
3. Caixa Econômica Federal, PÓLIS Institute and UN-Habitat (no date), The Statute of the City: New Tools for Assuring the Right to the City in Brasil (sic).
4. References to São Paulo throughout this paper relate to São Paulo municipality.
5. The National Housing Bank was created in 1964 to manage the Length of Service Guarantee Fund for public housing. It later extended its activities to urban infrastructure but closed in 1986, when most of its funds and functions were transferred to the Federal Savings Bank (see Section III (c)).
6. The IBGE 2000 census showed a population decrease in the central area of São Paulo.
7. See reference 2.
8. A model of squatter upgrading based on the demolition of existing housing and the construction of apartment blocks in their place.
9. Defined as the provision of water, sewerage, electricity, street lighting, garbage collection, road paving, public transport and access to basic social services.
10. This is made up of monthly deposits from employers, equivalent to 8 per cent of each employee's monthly remuneration, and goes into a bank account in his/her name where it accrues interest. The employee can then draw on it when he/she wishes to acquire housing, or ceases to work.
11. Including Pro Moradia (for infrastructure and housing) and Prosanear (for basic sanitation) for low-income settlements.
12. The Letter of Credit Programme, which gives housing credit to individuals or collectives in the low/middle-income range to build or convert a housing unit, up to a maximum value and with a variable interest rate.
13. Morar Melhor and Nosso Bairro, both within the Habitar-Brasil Programme for very low-income families, funded by the Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank.
14. The official figure is 1 per cent; however, more is designated in practice.
15. Including revenue from the sale of properties built from a former fund, FUNAPS.
16. The São Paulo Metropolitan Housing Company is an independent company with 99 per cent of its shares owned by the municipal government. It is responsible for developing, planning and executing housing projects in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region, primarily in São Paulo municipality. The Metropolitan Housing Company can no longer undertake loans due to its heavy indebtedness in previous decades, so allowing it to manage the Municipal Housing Fund was a way of enabling it to continue in its role. Like SEHAB, the company has been undergoing a process of administrative modernization.
17. The Length of Service Guarantee Fund allocated US$ 800 million, and the federal goverment US$ 200 million, for 15 years at a subsidized annual interest rate of 4 per cent.
18. Eligible beneficiaries are identified by SEHAB's Low-income Housing Department. They must be over 21 and independent, may not possess a property or have received housing finance, and must not have had a rental agreement terminated due to breach of contract.
19. The value of the property is adjusted according to the reference rate.
20. A further partnership agreement exists between the Federal Savings Bank and the Metropolitan Housing Company (Residencial Cidade São Paulo), whereby the Metropolitan Housing Company tenders the construction projects, and the construction work is financed by the Federal Savings Bank using resources from a private investment fund.
21. The construction mode uses land already owned or purchased by the municipal government (SEHAB or Metropolitan Housing Company), while the conversion mode uses buildings owned or expropriated by the municipal government.
22. Building rights vouchers are given in respect of the market value, calculated by SEHAB and a consultant.
23. Tax on services (ISS) and property conveyance tax (ITBI).
24. Urban property tax (IPTU), property conveyance tax (ITBI) and planning application fee.
25. The 1972 Land Registration Law made legalization more complicated, and not necessarily possible even with land conveyance documents.
26. The Municipal Housing Council assumed responsibility for managing the Municipal Housing Fund due to public pressure for greater democracy and participation in municipal budget management.
27. A municipal election held in March 2003 was attended by over 31,000 people using the regional electoral system, with 454 polling stations across the city, and electronic voting.
28. See, for example, Souza, Celina (2001), "Participatory budgeting in Brazilian cities: limits and possibilities in building democratic institutions", Environment and Urbanization Vol 13, No 1, April, pages 159-184.
29. Bairro legal is a play on words, as legal not only means "legal" but also (colloquially) "great"; so bairro legal simultaneously means "legal neighbourhood" and "great neighbourhood".
30. The Urban Violence Assessment is funded by the Cities Alliance under its Cities Without Slums initiative, and seeks to integrate violence into the wider framework of urban upgrading. The pilot initiatives operate in peripheral districts in São Paulo that are characterized by high levels of violence.
31. The identification of the settlements was facilitated by the digital map produced by SEHAB in conjunction with CEM (Centro de Estudos da Metrópole).
32. See Silva, Luiz Ináio et al. (2003), "The programme for land tenure legalization on public land in São Paulo, Brazil", Environment and Urbanization Vol 15, No 2, October, pages 191-199.
33. Also referred to as the Singapore Programme.
34. SEHAB/Land Subdivision Department (2003), RESOLO: Regularização de Loteamentos no Muniípio de São Paulo / The Legalization of Allotments in the Municipal District of São Paulo (bilingual Portuguese/English), Portela Boldarini Arquitetura e Urbanismo, São Paulo, Brazil.
35. The selection criteria for sub-divisions are that they are not located in areas of environmental protection or unsuitable for settlement, have benefited from previous initiatives (to consolidate interventions), and have good organization and participation.
36. A fund that wrote off the balance of housing contracts signed prior to 1993.
37. The housing units are provided through an agreement with the State Housing and Urban Development Company.
38. Association of Commercial Building Developers of São Paulo, Brazilian Association of Architecture Practices, Brazilian Institute of Architects (São Paulo branch), Institute of Engineers, the São Paulo Minha Cidade Consortium, Union of Estate and Property Agents and São Paulo, and the Union of Large-scale Engineering Works of São Paulo State.