Housing deficits in Greater Santiago: empirical evidence on conflicts and arguments for rethinking metropolitan planning

Abstract

In Chile there is a structural housing deficit that has consolidated its increase in spite of the significant number and amounts granted as part of the housing policy, which is based on the delivery of subsidies to the demand. This article spatially evaluates the contradictory relationship between this housing policy and socioeconomic variables that lead to the conclusion that subsidies do not allow breaking the reproductive process of the housing deficit. For this purpose, a spatial statistical study is applied based on a multiple linear regression for a preliminary evaluation and a geographically weighted regression to specify the territorial scope of the results. The study focuses on the city of Santiago de Chile, where 40% of the national population is concentrated. The findings show the profound contradiction between the subsidiary logic, the strong real estate development and the increase in the housing deficit, at a precise moment given the changes to the constitution that are being developed in Chile, for which the right to housing is one of the aspects to be incorporated in the new constitution of that nation.

Keywords:
Housing; Densification; Verticalization; housing shortage