Whilst government officials were keen to fanfare the progress of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (”My House, My Life”) programme this week – representatives of Brazil´s real estate sector at a public-private gathering in São Paulo took the opportunity to speak out against the realities of the initiative, with calls for the authorities to raise the maximum price limit once again (a request that was subsequently declined by Inês Magalhães, secretary of Brazil´s housing ministry).
January 27th, 2012 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
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The last week of January 2012 saw the mass eviction of thousands of families residing in favelas (slums) in the Pinheirinho district of São José dos Campos, São Paulo state. Behind a smokescreen of bringing “security” as a result of the resistance, the heavy handedness of Brazil’s military police was well documented and can be viewed all over news sites and YouTube with residents being forcibly removed using tear gas bombs and rubber bullets in addition to regular beatings, police brutality and little opportunity to collect belongings prior to the swift commencement of demolitions – leaving huge senses of loss, irrationality and injustice.
Two press clippings (extracted in December 2011 from Brazil´s Folha newspaper) that demonstrate how the rapid growth of property prices in Brazil has filtered through to the country’s favela communities – with rental figures that are very arguably beyond feasible affordability levels of the country´s low income groups. Due to the existence of very few other housing options, most residents do not have any choice but to pay such sums for what are plainly appalling and sub-humane living conditions.
a short news bulletin via Paraná state TV which demonstrates the bad workmanship and other related issues on a donated social housing project under the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) (“My House, My Life”) initiative in Cascavel, Paraná as well as commentary with regards to analysis undertaking on unit costs.
The administrators of the social housing programme Minha Casa, Minha Vida (“My House, My Life”) have announced that the construction of 6,940 houses in Salvador (Bahia) has been stopped due to a reported “absence of liquidity” of the two construction companies involved. In the first week of January, executive director of the Caixa Econômica Federal Teotônio Rezende visited the project to examine what steps could be taken – but the issues have been well known since September 2011.
With rising pressures in dealing with Brazil’s massive affordable housing deficit as a result of the impending 2012 municipality elections, the government has affirmed its commitment to continue with the R$ 22.9 billion Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My House) programme after the slow pace of its development in 2011.
A video extracted from a November 2011 Jornal da Gazeta news programme on problems faced by São Paulo apartment buyers as a result of being falsely led to believe they would have access to financing via the Caixa Econômica Federal as part of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (“My House, My Life”) housing programme.
December 6th, 2011 by
Ruban Selvanayagam
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In her weekly radio show, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has stated that 2012 will see further governmental priority towards the My House, My Life (Minha Casa, Minha Vida) programme – particularly for families earning up to 3 times the national minimum wage (R$ 1,600) per month.
The Brazilian Ministry of Finance has raised the maximum sales value of social housing under the My House, My Life (Minha Casa, Minha Vida) programme from R$ 75,000 to R$ 85,000 (previously R$ 60,000 in 2009). Under the measure, units priced below the ceiling avoid the need to pay the 6 percent Special Construction Tax (Regime Especial de Tributação da Construção Civil, RET) paying 1 percent on the sales value.
On 25th November 2011, the Banco do Brasil reported that its annual housing lending figure reached R$ 7.02 billion – representing a 105 percent rise in relation to December 2010. The majority (R$ 5.56 billion) was used to finance the Brazilian public for residential real estate purchasing (a rise of 89 percent over the year) with lending to companies reaching R$ 1.46 billion (a rise of 209 percent over the year).
