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Recent commentary made by Nabil Georges Bonduki, professor of urban housing at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, University of São Paulo (FAU-USP) indicated that the rapid rises in land prices have effectively negated Brazilian housing sector growth, most notably for low income groups.

Speaking to the “Forum” magazine, Bonduki commented that: “the country is growing again and returning to invest in important areas; the urbanisation of favelas was a good example – but what has ended up happening is the over-exaggerated valuations of land and housing with available resources not being able respond to real needs.”  He went on to comment that urban planning policy has failed to incorporate mechanisms that will take into account how market speculation will impact those at the base of the pyramid: “urban projects which in theory should have had a positive effect, have in fact expelled the poor both directly (such as removal of occupancy) and indirectly (price and cost of living).  The demand for land by people with higher incomes has created a difficulty in meeting popular demand.”

Bonduki refers to the situation related to favela settlements in São Paulo where conflicts of interest have intensified in recent years as a result of the limited availability of land and the blasé attitude towards the massive housing deficit (an example of which was seen in January 2011 in Pinheirinho, São José dos Campos): “the Minha Casa, Minha Vida programme has ended up being located in the city peripheries – an issue that is even more difficult in São Paulo as there are problems related to infrastructure, long distances and usage disputes.”

He illustrated that, when talking about São Paulo land policy, it is clear that Federal Government has an important role to play in decision making – but it is ultimately the municipalities that need to formulate how available land is developed efficiently.  He stated that whilst organs such as Municipal Housing Councils (Conselhos Municipal de Habitação) have a widening remit, its role “overall is ineffective as a decision making forum – particularly as a space for social participation and control” and “many announced instruments of the Strategic Master Plan (Plano Diretor Estratégico) have failed to be implemented.”

He believed that the housing and planning secretariats are also fundamental stakeholders and should be redirected more into implementing viable urban control instruments such as progressive local authority taxes on empty plots of land.  Alerting over the fact that urban and housing investment in São Paulo is very different to what was the case a decade ago – laws, initiatives and processes related to land acquisition and development need to be thorough enough to be able to contain the effects of land value inflation and complement the activity that is already currently underway in the city.  Finally Bonduki stated that the large growth of real estate development in São Paulo need not exclude the poor (who form the majority of the housing deficit) and that speculation and inefficient strategy making are products of a lack of public involvement in the decision making process which must be changed.