Housing and regional development: an analysis of the territorial cost of housing within the right to the city
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24302/drd.v16.5921Abstract
This essay examines why an expansion in housing supply does not necessarily provide equitable access to the city. It asks how land rent and site selection condition the conversion of housing into capabilities in Brazil's Minha Casa Minha Vida Programme (PMCMV). The analysis combines urban political economy, the Capability Approach and documentary research, comparing studies of PMCMV locations with official measures of housing need and accessibility. In five metropolitan regions, housing developments subsidized by the Residential Leasing Fund (FAR) developments were, on average, 1.22 to 2.00 times farther from the metropolitan centre than the housing deficit weighted by location. In 16 cities, the assessed federal properties offered greater walking access to jobs than the FAR developments. Excessive rent burdens accounted for 52.2% of Brazil's housing deficit in 2022, but do not directly measure land rent. Capabilities illuminate substantive outcomes; confronting segregation also requires governing the appropriation of land-value gains.
Keywords: right to housing; Minha Casa Minha Vida Programme; real-estate market. Land policy; New Urban Agenda.
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