The effects of changes in Brazilian Housing Policies in a Housing Provision and Urban Regeneration Project in Porto Alegre, South of Brazil

In Brazil, the trajectory of housing provision has been fragmented, marked by a diversity of housing programmes that has prompted a scattering of resources and frequent discontinuity in such programmes. Since 2002 Porto Alegre has been developing the City Entrance Integrated Programme (PIEC in Portuguese), a large housing provision and urban regeneration project, influenced by the housing programme Habitar Brasil BID. There is evidence, through post occupancy evaluations (POEs) carried out since 2006, that the PIEC programme has produced positive outcomes, but with some shortcomings.

As the programme is still in development, it may feel the influence of the guidelines of another housing programme carried out by the central government since 2009, the My Home My Life programme (MCMV in Portuguese). This programme produced more than one million homes in its initial phase and two million more in its second phase. Despite the fact MCMV represents a real landmark in terms of sheer numbers, studies have pointed to problems in what has been produced through MCMV, including the lack of fulfilment of residents’ needs, especially in terms of common spaces.

This paper presents the results of a focus group conducted with Porto Alegre Council staff responsible for the development of PIEC housing projects. The results of POEs in PIEC housing projects were compared with POEs in MCMV housing projects and used as a starting point for the focus group. The findings indicated that the discontinuation of housing policies could affect the benefits generated by previous programmes, especially in terms of community engagement.