VIABILIDADE DA PRODUÇÃO DE HABITAÇÃO DE INTERESSE SOCIAL NAS ÁREAS CENTRAIS DAS CIDADES

Abstract

The “Minha Casa, Minha Vida” Programme (PMCMV – “My House, My Life”) has produced millions of social housing units (HIS – Habitação de Interesse Social). Only a small fraction of this production is located in urban centers, while most of the units was built on the peripheries, increasing the urban sprawl. Thus repeating the same mistakes of past housing programs: large communities with low urban insertion, isolated, generating more economic and social segregation of the low income population. One of the biggest challenges is the high land value in urban centers. The feasibility of HIS enterprises in the context of the PMCMV leads the production towards the outskirts, where the land cost better fits the budget. This cost analysis, however, does not take into consideration future costs of an inefficient infrastructure, poor social services and public safety issues, with impact on the cities operational costs. The infrastructure already available in the central areas and the opportunity to appropriate abandoned or underutilized buildings and urban empty spaces shall also be considered as benefits. This paper is part of a doctoral thesis project and compares the total building cost of HIS in peripheral and central areas, emphasizing the benefits of HIS in central areas while considering the indirect operational and infrastructure city costs. The budget of 2 projects built in the Metropolitan Region of RJ and classified as “Faixa 1” (PMCMV) are analyzed and compared with the estimated budget of HIS to be constructed in underutilized buildings located in downtown RJ.