Legal and institutional efforts to make fairer cities have given Brazil an important key to reverse its urban social problems: the land social function.This concept hasanstrategic importance in housing policy: to establish the foundation forhousing interventions. How is this concept embedded in local housing plans, within the current context of Brazil's National Housing Policy? With that in view, this paper discusses the place of land in the housing policy of the municipality of Campinas, by examining its Municipal Housing Plan. The discussion is conducted from three perspectives: the situation of housing precariousness in the municipality, the land needs of the housing policy, and the measures foreseen to meet those needs. The analysis revealed that the land foreseen for housing comprises potential private land. In this sense, land policy is understood as a policy aimed at limiting the private property law to the benefit of the collective interest. This policy, however, has proven to be ineffective, since the intention to fulfil the social function does not translate into concrete policy actions.
Urban management; Land policy; Housing policy; Land social function; Right to property
