The limits to subsidized rental housing in Brazil: the case of Belo Horizonte

Abstract

This paper approaches the regulatory process of the recently implemented Subsidized Rental Housing Program in Belo Horizonte (decree n. 17150/2019). First, we situate rental housing policies in the international and national urban agenda, and compare their historical emergence in central countries, in the welfare state, and their recent advent in peripheral countries, in a scene marked by neoliberalization. To demonstrate the interconnection of different references, perspectives and agents, we present the revision process of the Municipal Housing Policy of Belo Horizonte and the regulation process of the Subsidized Rental Housing Program, followed by an analysis of its initial implementation. We conclude by pointing out limits and challenges for the inclusion of subsidized rental housing in the municipal and in the Brazilian urban agendas.

right to housing; housing policies; subsidized rental housing; rental housing; social movements