Researchers ask for Minha Casa, Minha Vida to be more integrated with cities – 02/14/2023 – Panel

Researchers dedicated to housing and urbanism wrote a manifesto with suggestions to the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government regarding the resumption of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program, which will be announced by the president this Tuesday (14).

In the text, entitled “MCMV, what to keep and what to change”, the researchers suggest that municipalities, state governments and popular cooperatives be called upon to participate more in the definition of projects and in the choice of land that is better located in the urban fabric.

One of the main criticisms of previous versions of the program is that the developments were built in remote locations, devoid of public facilities, far from commerce, jobs and transport infrastructure, “in areas that, not infrequently, ended up under the control of of organized crime or militias constituting pockets of poverty located in the distant peripheries”, as the text points out.

The researchers also propose more diversification in the housing offered, incorporating the renovation of existing buildings, housing improvements and projects that are more suited to the physical and environmental realities of each region.

Among the proposals are also the allocation of more resources to MCMV-Entidades, which grants financing to entities such as cooperatives and unions, with resources from public funds.

According to the researchers, this modality “obtains better results in architectural and urban terms, generates multiplier effects in the local economy, in addition to generating social bonds and belonging in the feasibility process.”

They also suggest that the “global contract” modality be no longer adopted, which transfers to a single private company the definition of the land, the location of the dwellings, the urban planning, architecture and engineering projects and the execution of the work. According to the text, 98% of the MCMV’s budget was applied in this way, leading to the reproduction of “the pattern of urbanization that throws the popular layers to the urban fringes.”

In this sense, the more active participation of municipalities, state governments and cooperatives in choosing projects could generate architecturally more innovative solutions that are more attentive to the social function of housing. For this reason, the researchers propose that the stages of choosing the land and preparing the architectural and urban project should not be the responsibility of the construction companies.

Finally, the text also suggests the creation of a specific subprogram for the rehabilitation of idle buildings in central areas of cities, and says that, within the scope of MCMV-Entidades, especially in São Paulo, there were several successful projects, with municipalities offering public buildings , expropriated or retaken “based on the application of urban instruments as a counterpart.”

The manifesto has more than a thousand signatures and has among its supporters several experts who helped recreate the Ministry of Cities, such as Ermínia Maricato, João Whitaker, Celso Carvalho and Eleonora Mascia. In addition to them, Andréa dos Santos, president of the National Federation of Architects, and Maria Elisa Baptista, president of IAB-Brasil also subscribe.

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