Guaranteeing Quality Social Housing: Key to fight urban poverty in Mexican cities. by Germania German

Guaranteeing Quality for Social Housing: Key to fight urban poverty in Mexican cities. Laura Germania German German European Masters in Urbanism, 2019.

-â&#x20AC;&#x153;The housing unit is not only the laboratory for the development of the intimate surrounding, but the basis of the conformation of cities and the relationship between its inhabitants. It is the base element of the neighborhood and the link between people and their environment.â&#x20AC;?(Canales, F. 2016)

Acknowledgments

EMU European Postgraduate in Urbanism, Strategies and Design

To all the great minds that crossed my path in this magnificent experience that was the European Masters in Urbanism –in Barcelona and Delft-, You thought me to see the world through different perspectives and to be able to conceptualize in my mind all the projects I wanted to transform into reality.

for Cities and Territories.

Author_ Laura Germania German German

To my parents, All the things I propose for the city’s improvement, I do it so you can be able to grow old and be able to enjoy your right to the city, empower you and make you free.

germaniagerman3@gmail.com

University_ Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya Barcelona, Spain.

Master Coordinator _ Joaquím Sabaté Bel Joaquin.sabate@upc.edu

Advisors_ Tonet Font / UPC Barcelona Roberto Rocco / TUDelft

To all the Mexican young adults, Who are struggling now to fulfill the ideals of prosperity their parents did 30 years ago -owning a house and a car-, but they cant. This thesis is for you, to help you understand that Is not your fault that the times have changed. We don’t have the same guarantees, we don’t have the same acquisition power and, therefore, we don’t have the same opportunities they did. We should start deconstructing the ideal of Mexican prosperity and come with a new one that encourages economic growth, equity, community cohesion and environmental conscience, so we can start shaping our housing policies and typologies in order to become the role-model citizens we desire and need, not the citizens we are expected to by the mexican tradition.

Index 1_ Introduction to Urban Poverty and its Relation to Public Services Access.

_009

1.1_ Introduction 1.2_ Relevance

_010 _016

2_ Methodology: Quality housing as key to fight urban poverty in Mexico.

_019

2.1_ Problem field 2.2_ Hypothesis 2.3_ Aim and objectives 2.4_ Research questions 2.5_ Thesis structure

_020 _022 _024 _025 _025

3_ Right to Housing Provided in Mexico as a product, not a service. 3.1_ Introduction: Our right to housing. 3.2_ What does Constitutional Right to Housing means in Mexico? 3.3_ How housing and neighborhood development policies impacted the typology of social housing and the morphology of Mexican cities. 3.4_ New guidelines for housing policies and typology. 3.4.1_The connection between urban poverty, job access and inequality. 3.4.2_Access to Housing : The discrepancy between social housing demand and social housing offer. 3.4.3_ The role of mobility infrastructure as main tool to promote democratic urban space and connect with the city. 3.5_ Conclusions

_029 _030 _034 _061 _072

_082

4_ Key Projects Transforming urban poor neighborhoods to guarante quality social housing. 4.1_ Introduction 4.2_ Strategic tools for project implementation 4.3_ The role of economically inactive population in urban poor neighborhoods. 4.4_ New models of housing offer and the encouragement of density. 4.5_ Connecting new centralities to the city. Using mobility to catalyze oportunity.

5_ Adapting Key Projects into a Municipal Scale Case study of Guadalajara, MĂŠxico and further study. 5.1_ Inventory of a larger scale project and its implications in matter of federal and state urban policy development 5.2_ Why Guadalajara, Mexico? 5.3_ Scope 5.4_ First Approach 5.5-M08_ SWOT: Strengths and opportunities of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expansion 5.6-M09_ SWOT: Threats of a car-oriented city 5.7-M10_SWOT: Weaknesses and opportunities for equity 5.8-M11_Strategy 5.9_Conclusions

_085 _086 _086 _088 _094 _098

_103

_104 _106 _108 _109 _118 _120 _122 _124 _126

6_ General Conclusions

_129

7_ References

_133

(Miller, J. 2016)

Urban Poverty and its relation to public service accesses.

SOCIAL HOUSING: THE KEY TO FIGHT URBAN POVERTY IN MEXICO.

1.1- Introduction.

In a country like Mexico - where the national poverty rate is 41.2%, and the population rate living in urban areas reaches the 79.78%- the termn poverty should be extended to incorporate not only the economic capacity of its inhabitants, but also the inequality of access to the services that the city offers (World Bank, 2018); an accurate definition could be the term urban poverty. According to the CEPAL (2014)1, 39.1% of the urban population lives in a state of urban poverty2, which is equivalent to 38.9 Million Mexicans, approximately the total population of Canada. As can be seen in figure 1.1, projections continue to increase in alarming rates, which encourage us to the following questions:

What are the factors leading to the increase in poverty rates in Mexico? And what are its implications in social welfare and space? Urban and rural poverty differ in many meaningful ways. Although both groups afected have similar characteristics, such as larger families, less educational level and less access to services than people with a greater economic purchase power, there are still some notable differences. Regarding consumption patterns, people living in urban poverty spend relatively more on housing (double of what is spent in the countryside), transportation and education, but relatively less on food, clothing, and health, as well as they are more dependent on the labor market for obtaining income (CEPAL, 2014).

2009 Economic Crisis

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1990

2000

2005

2010

% of urban population that lives in urban areas.

2014

2017

% Urban Poverty % Rural Poverty % National Poverty

Figure 1.1 Source: Data of World Bank, 2017 and CEPAL, 2004. The table illustrates the increment of urban population in Mexico and the % of national poverty. We can see how rural poverty has decreased through the years and how it has incremented in urban areas..

1_ The most recent data found in CEPAL regarding Mexico is the one of 2014.

than the minimum pay rate; or has insufficient income to cover the basic food basket and/or

2_ This percentage of population is the one who has to live with less economic resources

is not able to meet a minimum threshold requirements.

Urban Poverty and its Relation to Public Service Accesses

Far from diminishing the importance of 44.7% of the Mexican population living in a state of rural poverty, which can be considered more extreme in terms of access to economic sources, health and education; The study of urban poverty in this thesis focuses on demonstrating that poverty in urban areas should be more difficult to prevail given that the

70 38.5

21.5

20.6

2012

2014

40.8

40 30 26.5

20 10 0

2010

17.4

2016

% of Population in Rural* Poverty Are identified as rural all settlements which its population is smaller than 2 500 inhabitants. %

50 40

Poverty indicators in Mexican urban areas have improved very slowly, while poverty indicators in rural areas have improved significantly3. This can be associated with the success of social programs such as Prospera4, a federal program of human development and welfare from SEDESOL, which improves the quality of life of families by improving their food, health and education access. However, this program only considers those families that are below the food poverty line, those whose monthly income per capita is less than the minimum welfare line established by CONEVAL5 (Espinosa Trujillo,et.al. 2016).

3_ The population in rural poverty has decreased to 9.1%, unlike the population in urban

40.5

city itself is conceived as an agglomeration of population and activities, in which there is a higher percentage of access to jobs, educational, health, recreational and cultural institutions. Therefore, we can affirm that there are greater possibilities of accessing a better quality of life in the urban environment than in rural areas; and even though â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as can be observed in figure 1.2- there is still a high percentage of the Mexican population that lives in urban areas that do not have access to the basic services that the city has to offer.

Concerning poverty in urban areas, the same program extends its support to suburban areas that are within the action boundaries of the program, but does by following the same parameters to combat poverty that are used in rural

40.1

35.4

33.7

34.3

34.4

6.7

6.3

6.2

4.7

2010

2012

2014

2016

30 20 10 0

% of Population in Urban Poverty Population in situation of moderate poverty Population in situation of extreme poverty

Figure 1.2 Source: Coneval, 2016. The difference between the results granted on the approach to fight poverty in urban and rural areas.

4_ It was called Oportunidades until 2018.

poverty -which only showed a significant improvement from 2014 to 2016- decreasing 1.5%

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

rural areas. That could be a reason why the results differ; oportunidades should take different approaches due to the fact that urban and rural areas greatly differ in terms of their definition of poverty.

Ta b l e o f P o v e r t y Va l u e s + Economic Welfare Line

What is considered urban poverty? Income

For the purposes of this research, it is essential to introduce the concept of relative poverty proposed by Townsend in 1970. For this author, urban poverty should be considered based on a standard of living generally accepted in a society at a given time. This definition focuses on the distribution of resources, not income; also emphasizes the fact that individuals need to participate with patterns or trajectories of life, customs and particular activities, typical of the society where they live (Ziccardi A., 2010). The concept turns out to be useful when referring to poverty in the urban environment because, in cities, there is a smaller probability that generalized situations of absolute poverty prevail. Therefore, if we agree on the fact that poverty is not only associated with the economic resources of the families but to other non-economic variables too; we can assert that urban povety has a multidimensional character.

Minimum Welfare Line EXTREME POVERTY

POVERTY

Lack of Social Deprivations Social Deprivations

1. Education Access and years completed

2. Access to Health Services 3. Access to Social Security 4. Housing Quality and Space

5. Basic Services The institute that is in charge of researching the social and economic prosperity of Mexicans is called CONEVAL, National Council for the evaluation of social development policies. This institute measures poverty through a multidimensional approach with variables such as: current per capita income, level of education, access to services health, access to security, quality and measurement of dwellings, access to basic housing

Water, sewer, electricity

6. Food Security Figure 1.3 Source: Coneval, 2016. Table that explains the variables used by this institution to determinate and measure poverty in Mexico.

5_ An Economic Welfare Line is a measure of characteristics that makes it possible to deter-

variable was created by the CONEVAL and it applies only to Mexico due to the vast differ-

mine whether or not people have sufficient income to fulfill their basic needs. This economic

ences that may apply in different countries.

Urban Poverty and its Relation to Public Service Accesses

services and food security. In addition to the economic variables, it also considers the degree of social cohesion as an independent factor but highly related to the measurement of poverty. In figure 1.3, data is shown to explain how the different degrees of poverty in Mexico are considered. Urban Poverty, then, would be defined as: a community that is below the Economic Welfare Line -defined by CONEVALand lacks 1 to 3 of the social deprivations mentioned above (CONEVAL, 2014).

What incentives it? The accelerated increment in the urban population rates continues to be the result of the industrialization processes of large urban centers6 and rural-urban migration, in which destitute peasants hoping for a better quality of life -related to the acquisition of a fixed and permanent job - seeks to migrate to cities. Besides access to jobs, access to basic services -such as electricity, drinking water, education, and health is also a pulling factor -; Therefore, we find a paradigm when encountering that the percentage of urban poverty continues to increase. The exponential growth of urban sprawl and its continuous development on large surfaces of land located on the outskirts of Mexican cites, cannot cover all the needs that new communities have in terms of access to essential public services, such as water, electricity, garbage collection and public transport, but why do people continue to migrate to the periphery of cities? One strong hypothesis could be that migration has become more acute thanks to the

constant inclination toward the adoption of neoliberal economic policies, as well as the neutral status of the Mexican state towards social guarantees, compensating for the dysfunctionality of capitalism. Beyond the problem of centralization of services within the city, this thesis suggests that the problem is highly related to the lack of access to land near nuclei of public services for the economically vulnerable city inhabitants; who are strongly limited by prices, location, quality and accessibility to public services and guarantees that the state is compelled to offer by constitutional right. In other words, services are concentrated in central areas, whereas poor households need to live in peripheral areas because of land prices.

How does current urban developing patters make evident the price, location and accessibility limitations? The typology of housing and urban development that currently proliferates in Mexico can be understood as a massive form of housing production in low density, with developments in the periphery of the Mexican cities where the land is cheaper to acquire and results in a better investment for the private construction companies who design and build the current urban typologies 7. In 2015, there was a registry of 200 000 abandoned houses in conurbated areas (CIDOC and SHF, 2015), alarming number that puts in question the quality of the current housing offer. According to David Penchyna Grub - director of the Institute

6_ In Mexico its considered as urban center one that has more than 2500 inhabitants.

housing offer are the main suppliers of this kind of typology in mass serie; created for the

7_ Private construction companies are registered in the INFONAVIT program as providers of

workers subscribed in the same programs as consumers.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

A strong indicator of this obsolete model of urban development can be the continuos shortage in housing supply in Mexico, which affects approximately 31% of Mexican families (OECD and INFONAVIT, 2015); but despite the intense focus that must be given to solve the quantitative aspects of housing demand, public policies should also give a qualitative approach to housing and its proper relation with the urban environment.Understanding, then, the current process of urban development in Mexico as:

The maximum land development with minimal urbanization (Gonzales C., 2018) These processes brought repercussions to society, which are reflected in clear expressions of the urban environment. These popular neighborhoods are often located next to enclaves of opulence, highlighting, this situation of social and territorial polarization, preventing the generation of conditions for social cohesion and contributing to a more propitious climate for insecurity and violence.

-50

Ciudad de Mexico Guadalajara Monterrey Puebla-Tlaxcala Toluca Tijuana León Juárez La Laguna Querétaro San Luis Potosi Mérida Mexicali Aguascalientes Cuernavaca Acapulco Tampico Chihuahua Morelia Saltillo Veracruz Mexicali Aguascalientes Cuernavaca Acapulco Tampico Chihuahua Morelia Saltillo Veracruz

100

% Of Growth Less than 2.5 KM of the City Center 30

1 000 000 or more Inhab

This assertations make it evident that the current urban development model practiced in Mexico is now in crisis. This questions its sustainability, quality and its role as a platform for human development.

% Of Growth More than 10 KM from the City Center

500 000 to 999 999 Inhab

of the national housing fund for workers (INFONAVIT) this fenomena occurs due to bad credit management, insecurity, lack of services and the location of this new developments with respect to the city.

Promedio

Figure 1.4 Source: OCDE and INFONAVIT (2015). The registered change in density of the population in Mexico’s metropolitan areas (with more than 500 000 inhabitants), according to its distance from

Poverty is easy to prevail in these popular neighborhoods

the city center between 2000 and 2010.

Urban Poverty and its Relation to Public Service Accesses

because of the characteristics that one can be found 1- In the housing unit: the lack of quality in the materials, the limited house dimensions8 and the lack of flexibility. 2- In the complex and urban scale: the lack of relationship the complex has with is immediate environment and the lack of social cohesion in these communities.

The inhabitants of the popular neighborhoods feel physically isolated from the city where they live (World Bank, 2004). A report made by World Bank in 2004 brings to light the concept of neighborhood effect, which affirms that the inhabitants of a poor community remain poor given the social stigma of the neighborhood; which implies less application of property rights, less access to permanent jobs, among other factors. In the last decade, Mexico had the third highest rate of urban expansion in the OECD. The development occurred at greater distances from the center of the Mexican cities and became more spatially dispersed (instead of compact). Between 2000 and 2010 -as can be appreciated in figure1.4-, in metropolitan areas with at least 500 thousand inhabitants, the city-center registered an average drop of 7.5% in population density; In contrast, the population density in areas located more than 10 kilometers from the center of the city increased by an average of 6.8% (INEGI 2000, 2010). Urban expansion is the result of multiple factors, the greatest of them being the promotion of federal government

subsidies for mortgage loans and their implementation by local governments in housing development and the acquisition of land far from the consolidated centres of Mexican cities; which have contributed enormously to the urban sprawl, facilitating the construction of formal housing developments of strictly dormitory purposes in the periphery of cities. According to data from the housing registry direction (RUV), more than 70% of new households registered were built in areas of intermediate location and peripheral areas with respect to urban centers and 90% of them were inhabited by one-family houses (CIDOC and SHF,2017). Bearing all this information in mind, one may conclude that urban poverty in Mexico is strongly linked to the concept of relative poverty, defined as CONEVAL as the lack of access to public services. This urban population living in popular neighborhoods, live in mono-functional dormitory developments that are located in the peripheral areas of the city. Due to the fact that the location of their houses is restricted to their budget or the location of the housing offer from the governmental programs, they are compelled to acquire a lower quality house in comparison with other segments of the population.Their relative poverty is therefore increased by their lack of access to services.

Why does the Mexican government continue to create obsolete typologies to develop urban areas that do not enhace social cohesion between the members of different communities and does not aim to give their residents access to their right to

8_ The restriction of dimensions variates from municipality to municipality according to the construction regulations.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

the city or even promote a better quality of life? At a municipal level of governance, there is a strong presence in the educational and health areas, -both fundamental rights of the constitution.- as opposed to housing policies, which are strongly focused on federal policies and programs of centralized institutions such as INFONAVIT, SEDESOL, SEDATU and more9.

is measured by the number of money invested in the project and the number of families that had access to the economic support, while the urban poverty index continue to increment through the years. Therefore, this thesis acclaims that

Is wrong to continue fighting urban poverty as if it was equal to rural poverty.

Understanding that exercising citizens right to housing is the first step to being able to access other necessary services and fundamental rights, makes quality social housing the fundamental tool to fight urban poverty through individual development on a proper environment that allows access to urban services and facilities...

Is unsustainable to give economic support to each needed family and expect any continuity on their quality of life improvement, due to the fact that poverty has to be addressed as a multidimensional character 10.

Wouldnt it be logical that housing access should be addressed in the same level of governance that other services that guarantee social development for the Mexican cities are?

Understanding this multidimensional nature of poverty, I propose a transversal strategy based in a multi-scale and trans-disciplinar approach. Giving prospera the responsibility to coordinate and invest in the different programs, infrastructure and legal frameworks that have to be done simultaneously in the scale of housing unit, neighborhood unit and city scale.

1.2- Relevance. The current governmental approach to fight urban poverty is mostly excecuted by the program Prospera of the Secretary of Social Development (SEDESO). Its approach is based on the continuous economic support of these neighborhoods â&#x20AC;&#x201C;regardless of their urban or rural location- and their success

9_ Since 1997, the approval process of the federal budget has tended to increase every

With the federal coordination of SEDESO and a percentage of the program budget, the municipal secretaries can aim to transversally develop social, economical and urban projects in the correct level of governance. This program should be able to perform a correct chronology while implementing social programs, creating

tional transfers from federal authorities â&#x20AC;&#x201C;such as senators- to local governments.

year, favoring the decentralization of public expenditure through the increment of uncondi-

What Does The Constitutional Right to Housing Means In Mexico?

infrastructure and updating the current legal framework to support the continuity of the quality of life improvement of the citizens. Long-term governmental projects are something that we aspire but depend highly on the intensions of the political parties; therefore this approach is highly innovative because it aims to use the strategy as a catalyzer of change in the communities.

By empowering inhabitants of poor urban neighborhoods with infrastructure, social capital, integration, security and a legal framework that can be used to safeguard a continuity of improvement – projects that can be executed in less than 6 years- I am guaranteeing a continuity that will finally put an end on urban poverty.

“succesfull social housing improvement program” –according to the government- that consists on giving free paint to home owners to paint colorfully, sometimes they have to paint the logo of the brand that gave the paint for the program

.(Jaén Aldo,2017).

10_ The concept of poverty inferred is “relative poverty” proposed by Townsend in 1970. Its explained in page 10 of this thesis

(Taboada, J. 2016)

Methodology: Quality Housing

as key to fight urban poverty in Mexican cities.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

2.1 - Problem Field After the synthesized analysis of urban poverty, we can agree that urban poverty in Mexico is a result of many factors; but the one this thesis is particularly interested in is the access to public services. If we understand that the provision of services is mostly concentrated in the city centers, one should ask: why people are moving away from the city center if this diminishes their possibilities of better life opportunities? And how can we reverse this pattern?. Urban expansion is a strong tendency for cities in Mexico and in order to analyze it, one must understand the main topics that favor the continuity of it such as: municipal policies, rural migration and the current market-based housing offer â&#x20AC;&#x201C;all of them also surrounded by the constant pressure of neoliberal policies being implemented by the Mexican state-. The different programs that have been enacted to fight urban poverty in Mexico are Prospera and Habitat. Prospera is a program implemented by SEDESOL in 1997 in order to fight the increase of poverty left by the 1994 crisis in Mexico1. This program is oriented to favor the development of capacities associated with education, health, and nutrition of the benefited families. It aims to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty through scholarships and school economic support, basic preventive health services and fight malnutrition; , as well as; food provision through monthly economic support to the families (Espinosa Trujillo, et. al, 2016). Created in 2004 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; also by SEDESOL-, the Habitat program

1_Prospera was previously called Oportunidades, and before oportunidades every 6 years it

aims to fight urban poverty through actions that increment the individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s welfare such as urban transformations with the development of infrastructure and the supply of essential public services (Arzaluz Solano and Jurado Montelongo, 2016). As it can be inferred, both programs are looking to fight poverty in different ways, but mainly concentrate on the provision of food support and provision of education, health, and other public services. Given the tendency of continuing urban expansion in Mexico, how can these programs fulfill the ever growing requirements of infrastructure and services needed to provide a better quality of life for urban inhabitants?. I conclude that the most resilient way to provide continuous and progressive improvements to the urban poor, is not through monthly assistance, but with the constant provision of quality services and the generation of a social network of support within their own communities; and this can only be achieved through a combination of infrastructure projects, social programs and community engagement, a tripartite action force that will transcend the goals of a monthly support program. The ideal of prosperity for Mexican families is based on the idea of owning a house, which has basic water, electricity and drainage services. However, the limited idea of housing

provide a federal budget to the municipalities to perform social welfare programs.

has changed its name according to the president in turn, but the goals remained similar: to

Methodology - Quality Housing: Key to Fight Urban Poverty in Mexico

as an isolated unit - frequently promoted by the mexican government and construction companies that are in charge of the housing development - allows and encourages the construction of extensive housing developments that do not offer access to other crucial services-such as access to hospitals or schools-nor does it encourage the creation of community values for its users.

We must inquire: How can the Mexican government have a certainty that current social housing access model and typology will guarantee a better quality of life for Mexican families? How can we speculate that â&#x20AC;&#x153;quality of lifeâ&#x20AC;? can be fulfilled through a 45m2 box? We cant. And they must not.

Images of social housing poor urban neighborhoods created on 2000 to 2013.(Marosi, 2017).

nities ortu pp

cess to He Ac

h Services alt

The two main hypothesis of this thesis are:

Formal Jo bO

2.2 - Hypothesis

_ Social housing access and typology are key to fight urban poverty in mexico. ucation Ed

port ns

r a ti o n a n

eg I

cia l C a pit al Security

S t r u c t u re,

Ele

ctri

Sew

ING US O H

Clean

water

SOC IAL

The second hypothesis itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more oriented to the public space, the neighborhood scale. I make the asseveration that in order to be able to break the vicious circle of poverty in urban areas we should be able to fight it through a tripartite approach: infrastructure, social programs, and community engagement.

cit

The first hypothesis is mainly oriented towards the house unit: how can we access to it and the typology of house we have access to. The access theme embraces the Mexican ideal of prosperity: being able to access a housing unit through a social program and the guarantee that this unit will facilitate a greater quality of life through the provision of services such as electricity, sewerage, and clean water -the basic human needs-. The typology theme concentrates on the diversity of options available and how the offer remains the same, even though the Mexican families and homeownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s demands are different from 1970.

S e c u r i t y, S o

_ Aspiration that can only be achieved through a tripartite system of infrastructure, social programs and community engagement.

lic Pub Tra

Figure 2.1 - Source: Author.

2_ Six is the length of period for presidents, each president can change by will the political agenda and can decide if he continues a previous program or not.

Methodology - Quality Housing: Key to Fight Urban Poverty in Mexico

If the housing unit can provide basic needs of services, the individual will be mentally and physically able to become part of an organized community; an organized community can transform punctual infrastructure projects into catalyzers of economic and security. Security and economically prosperity added to a cohesive community can be the link between accesses to jobs, demand for better education facilities, management, and maintenance of the public space and more. Another of the attributes is that the generation of this community values can transcend the â&#x20AC;&#x153;6 year lasting social governmental programâ&#x20AC;?2, and continue to be useful after the suspension of governmental economic support through the creation and implementation of laws.

Therefore I conclude that housing unit and its sorrounding neighborhood are the platforms for the provision of a better quality of life for low-income Mexican families.

This program should be addressed through a correct level of governance in order for the design and its implementation to respond the needs of a specific community. It should also be supported transversally by the secretaries in charge of each topic, local residents and interested associations as stakeholders. Although, it is understood that the process of reversing the current conditions of the popular neighborhoods of Mexican cities is very volatile and full of unforeseen events; I firmly believe that this can be achieved through the practice of a double approach: multi-scale and multidisciplinary. The project must be configured in such way that each of the scales -housing unit, neighborhood, and city scale- are being addressed simultaneously; As well as each program that is being carried out to improve the quality of life of the urban poor must be supported by public policies, citizen participation and urban infrastructure design.

But to guarantee the successful implementation of a program that requires a tripartite action, it must be done through the higher levels of law authority.

Efficient housing policies must intervene in favor of the promotion of new tools for land regulation, the creation of community through public space design and the reconfiguration of the popular neighborhoods in order for them to access the nearest public services.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

2.3 - Aim and Objectives:

I aim to develop an urban policy strategy, which reinforces the right and need of transformation of the typologies and forms of access to social housing; same that can be promoted through a national, state and municipal level to guarantee different governmental budgets and stakeholders as can be ilustrated in figure 2.2.

Community Soft infrastructure projects, mainly law implementation and regulation of municipal land. Access to a minimum municipal budget trough house tax collection.

Municipality

Develop ment House Uni t Sc ale

Manage ment Budget +

- Budget Program

Infrastructure

Interest

State

Planning

budget acc es for s

Law

Hard infrastructure projects from federal political agenda and interest. Example: roads, collective transport systems, natural resources management, etc.

National

We will use the tools available from each governance level and aim to develop a â&#x20AC;&#x153;manualâ&#x20AC;? that focuses on the identification of general issues of poor urban neighborhoods composed by social housing units and how to transform them in order to provide economic prosperity, a multiple social housing access offer and access to their right to the city through different infrastructure, law and programs available.

continuity for ey

National level is the one that promotes the strongest political agenda and its also in charge of high-cost infrastructure; State manages the roads and collective transport system projects, as well as is the intermediary for the social housing and other funds between the municipality and the nation; Municipality has a smaller budget that comes from a land tax that is collected for the specific use of municipal programs. and is only in charge of developing territorial laws, low impact social programs for housing developments.

Figure 2.1 Source: Author. Table, which illustrates the level of power or budget available according to the different governance levels. Right and down is more and left and up is less.

Methodology - Quality Housing: Key to Fight Urban Poverty in Mexico

2.4 - Research Questions How can we identify urban poor neighborhoods? Which characteristics do they have in common? Why does housing continue to be designed as an isolated unit, alien to its immediate social and environmental context? What is the legal framework that allowes this urban pattern of expanssion in Mexican cities? What is the current social housing offer in relation with the current demand? How can we access housing and why? What are the current conflicting typologies of urban development? How to reconfigure neighborhoods to transform them into scenarios that promote security, integration, social capital and values that catalyzes a break in the circle of urban poverty? Where are the services located within the city and what is their relationship with abandoned housing?

2.5 - Thesis Structure In order to understand why social housing is as it is today, I had to carry out an extensive analysis of the history of social housing and its access in Mexico; Same that begins questioning what are my guarantees as Mexican?, and comparing other rights that Mexicans are in title to, with the constitutional right to housing -the elements that it seeks and the elements it provides-; complemented by an analysis of the policies that were implemented, secretaries that were formed and political agendas that were followed in different presidential periods. Each of the historical moments is related to demographic, economic, environmental and territorial elements; showing from the beginning how each policy responds to the combination of a series of external factors. Once this relationship is understood, it is sought to reflect how these were the characteristics that modified housing unit and complexes typologies. Any action written as a political intention or law was so powerful that it managed to change the way our cities were configuring through the unit of living place; that is why accompanied by the study of policies and access, I developed a historical social housing typologies catalog and with its main characteristics. Through the discovery of a strong pattern between the creation and implementation of public policies and the effect they have on the morphology of housing and the city; it is proposed to look for new demands and national scale problems found in the current typology â&#x20AC;&#x201C;same

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

Urban Poverty in M that is being implemented since 1970-; creating valuable arguments based on data of the new demands that the Mexican population has on housing, as well as a how they will be represented in space.

In order to transform the current social housing typology, in specific the one that we find in poor urban neighborhoods, the approach will begin with the global strategy, composed by 3 projects and the values they represent; followed by a manual that will illustrate how to apply each of the projects into a poor urban community; the elements, the tools needed, the respective stakeholders and the long term vision. It is important to understand that the goal of this thesis is to create a link between understanding the reasons of why social housing typology and access is how it is today and propose an urban strategy composed by the analysis of the current needs and demands of housing in a national level. Infrastructure projects, social programs, and community participation; all working simultaneously in different scales to make an integral strategy.

Location Urban expansion Housing abandonment Urban voids

Constitutional rights Right to housing provided as a product not a servic Market offer and regulations Financial tools available to acquire housing

House ownership as an ideal of prosperity Disparity of wealth distribution in Mexican Cities Economical Active Population Governmental support for fix-contract workers Irregular workers

Social Service Directions Legal, economical and social effects Political agenda

Wh Figure 2.6 Source: Author

The thesis structure map aims to illustrate the relationship between the main topics of urban poverty, social housing and access to public services and t he development of a further conclusion and hypothesis that will guideline the case study of Guadalajara.

Strategy Implementation

The result will be the manual which illustrates the spatial implications of the program and some ground rules that can later be transformed â&#x20AC;&#x201C;depending on the municipality- in order to develop the project.

Community empowerment Economic prosperity Quality Housing

Methodology - Quality Housing: Key to Fight Urban Poverty in Mexico

Mexico

Conclusion Urban Poverty and is related to public services access.

Urban poor communities are a result of poor urban design and land use management.

Housing ownership is not enough to guarantee a better quality of life.

Quality of life Local scale development Community and participation Security Transformation of marginal areas Equality

Hypothesis

Governance Strategic local partnerships Governmental finance tools for infraestructure

Quality social housing as key to access our right to the city and quality of life.

Thresholds between services and urban poor areas Relationship between public and private areas Community Identity Neighborhood participation and cohesion

Where?

How?

Neighborh o

li icipa ty un

Legal Tools

Social Programs

Infras tructure

Public Services

hat?

(Taboada, J. 2016) 28

Right to Housing

provided as a product, not a service.

3.1 - Introduction : The constitutional Rights We are fortunate to be part of a society that respects and pursues the fundamental rights and freedoms of every human being through institutions as United Nations. UN’s 1948 declaration establishes the right to housing, perceived as the tool to achieve many other rights for economic and social development: such as access to water and adequate sanitation facilities. Article 25.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that:

‘Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.’ (UN,2016) The magnitude of importance of the right to housing can be comparable with the other fundamental rights like security and freedom, or necessary social services such as education or health. As an example the World Health Organization has asserted that housing is the single most important environmental factor associated with disease conditions and higher mortality and morbidity rates, reflecting the enormous permeability and interdependence this particular right has in relation with significant others. Transforming these legal rights into concrete realities for

people who are entitled to them can be very challenging for every government. The UN supervises and promotes the implementation of these guarantees through many initiatives, but is up to every country to develop a legal framework that allows their inhabitants to exercise their rights according to their possibilities. Mexico was a pioneer in establishing a set of fundamental rights in its constitution in 1917. The constitution does not limit itself to the recognition of the base political organization of the country, but also acknowledges and protects the rights that every Mexican is entitled to. The fundamental social rights are: • Education • Freedom of culture • Health • Adequate environment for their development and wellbeing • Dignified and decorous housing • Justice • Right to a dignified work After the constitution, the governmental framework had continuously evolved to guarantee the exercise of the previously mentioned fundamental social rights, mostly through the supervision of different federal institutions of social security and the implementation of various plans or programs. Each subject is addressed through a specific institution that guarantees the enjoyment of each right. Education is provided as a service through a public institution, is accessible to every Mexican regardless of their economic or religious group. They are other private institutions that offer the education service but are also supervised through the Public Secretary of Education. Health is also provided

Right to Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

as a service through public institutions, which depends on the program you are enlisted on – IMSS, ISSSTE, etc.- you can access to it in different ways, but even if you aren’t aligned to any working syndicate, you can go to a specific institution and there you will be able to exercise your right to health. When it comes to the right of housing, one may infer that it would follow the previous pattern, but in Mexico, housing is not provided as a service, it’s offered as a product. The federal institution responsible for the safeguard of this particular right does not provide it.

Right to Education $

Service Provided

Public Education Institutions

Right to Housing $

Access to economic support from Oportunidades to improve their dwelling.

Good Credit History

No Credit History

Promotion of better credit opportunities

Good Credit History

Auto Construction

Private Bank Mortgages or Loans $

Auto Construction

$$$

Product Offer

No Credit History

Service Provided ?

Long and complicated has been the path of social housing since then. In the following chapters we aim to understand its evolution and how it was considerably shaped by the social, economic and political factors of the Mexican history; followed by a representative analysis of the typologies of housing – social or privately promoted- that were available in each period and the interpretation of quality that they provided.

$$$

Access to Scholarships or Student Loan

The role of the National Commission of Dwelling is as a mere promoter of mortgage acquisition and construction of housing through private companies. It has not always been like this; there are a series of historical factors that influenced the development of this particular framework into what it represents nowadays. The right to housing commenced as a fundamental guarantee that was provided as a service by the government or the respective private employer of each worker. You could also access credit through the acquisition of mortgages from the Institute of Civil Pensions and Retirements, but social housing was the only program that was approached in an integral urban way. It could only be accomplished through the merge of the right to housing, right to an adequate environment, access to a close school and access to a health facility too.

Post Revolution and Reconstruction

Industrialization and Urban Development

The majority of the population starts emigrating to the city.

New Population Policy Pro-Nativity 2

-0.5

1930

1920

1940

Cristero War

1950

1960

1970

2nd World Wide War

Financial Program for Housing (PFV) 1964 1º Contest Housing for Workers

Proclamation of the Mexican Constitution 1917

Juan Legarreta

2º CIAM L’Habitation Minimum Frankfurt, Germany.

Institute of Civil Pensions and Retirement 1925 Short-term loans governmental or parastatal companies Buy or build

Consolidation of FONHAPO Mexico Declares War 1942

to Germany, Italy and Japan Law of Rent Protection was issued.

Creation of BNHUOP 1933

The National Bank Of Mortgages for Urban and Public Infrastructure, now called BANOBRAS.

‘The Great Depression’ 1929 Stock market crisis of United States of America, reflected in Mexico’s economy.

Constitution of IMSS 1943 The Mexican Institute of Social Security. Corporation in charge of the new ‘wellbeing’ laws Services only provided for formal employees.

Federal Fund for popular housing for people with good credit history

IMSS developes the tripartite program. 1956

The implementation of this program left complexes such as Unity Independencia (1960). Administrated by rent Payment could exceed 25% of family income

The creation of the Fund for popular housing (FHP) 1949 Implemented by BNHUOP

INVI is created 1954 Attention to the lower income groups of rural areas and urban centers of provinces. Promoting coordination between municipal governments Acquire, administered and transferred governmental housing park

Consolidation of ISSSTE 1959 Social services for parastatal company workers.

Generate dwellings with the intermediation of private investment capital. Reduce the expenses of the public budget. This organism was integrated by FOVI and FOGA, founded in 1963. Financing credits through private banks.

Creation of INDECO 1964 National Instituted for the Development of Rural Communities and Popular Housing. Offered technical help, assessment and promotion of housing subsidies Auto-construction: an integral approach for communities.

Populism

Neoliberalism

Urban Population % x 10

Highest record of pollution recorded. Since the Revolution.

CO2 Emissions Tons per Capita

Rural Population % x 10

The first signs of the crisis.

Population Growth Rate %

1980

National Institute Fund for the Promotion of Housing (INFONAVIT)

1990

Constitution of SAHOP 1976

Creation of SEDUE 1982

Secretary of Human Settlements and Public Infrastructure Development. Oriented in ecology Equal distribution of economic resources for housing

The Secretary of Urban Development and Ecology Replaced SAHOP.

Expedite credits Tripartite support program Mandatory accessible to every employee.

Entities for the Promotion of Housing 1972 The creation of different user-oriented housing funds from the government, such as FOVISSSTE for parastatal workers and FOVIMI for the army.

Publication of the Federal Law Of Dwelling 1983

Historic Crisis Devaluation of the National Coin.

Creation of SEDESOL 1992 ‘Fight poverty through housing and access to public community spaces’

2010

2000

The New ‘Sectorial Housing Program’. The PAN party arrives to Presidency 2000

Implemented by Fox’s government to orientate the ‘housing’ goals towards the same result in different levels of governance.

New National Development Plan 2007 The agrarian, territorial and Urban Development

New Constitutional Housing Law. 2006 Credit supply for the economically vulnerable Sustainability Collaboration between public-private.

Development of CONAVI Earthquake of Mexico City 1985 Changed the approach of housing; from integral and environmental to state of emergency. Turn high density complexes in a reflection of vulnerability and insecurity

Creation of Governmental Entities 2001 The main goal was to decentralize and coordinate the different governance levels of policies and housing programs.

PIB Growth Rate Per Capita %

Legally validation of housing as an institutional right Series of recommendations International treaties

Creation of DUIS Program

2020

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

3.2 - What does ‘the constitutional right to housing’ means in Mexico? In Vespers of the end of the Mexican revolution, the one that

and hygienic houses, designated to be acquired in property

intended to halt the 31 years long dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz,

by the workers in determinate terms’. The most important

on Monday 5th of 1917, the official newspaper of the Mexican

detail its also mentioned in the same article, where the word

Federation published The Political Constitution of the United

accommodation appears for the first and only time:

States of Mexico. The new constitution, aimed to update the previous one -published in 1957- with the new postrevolutionary ideas and values of a protectionist Mexican government, one that was going to look after the interest and justice of the disadvantaged working class that suffered so much abuse and inequality from their employers during the period of the Porfiriato1 . As this sector of the population demanded, there were many pages of the constitution dedicated to honoring their rights. One of the most important examples of this is the article 123º, in which widely covers

‘-In every agricultural, industrial, mining or any other kind of work, employers shall be obligated to provide workers with comfortable and hygienic accommodation, for which they may collect rents that shall not exceed the monthly average of the cadastral value of the farms. They must also establish schools, hospitals, and other necessary services to the community. -’ (UNAM, 1986: 351-354)

topics such as: the legislation levels in which the rights should

These ambitious constitutional decrees were the start of

be addressed2 , social security, the value of the minimum

social housing in Mexico. Acknowledging that the federal

wage, the right to own a percentage of the company’s utilities,

state understood the housing unit, as an integral part of the

restrictions of work for women and minors, right to strike,

community; therefore the provider –the employer and the

rights for the workers in the service of the state and the right

government (also an employer of parastatal industries) - had

to housing.

to ensure that the community had immediate access to services such as education and health.

In the first version of this complex document, the word house was scarcely mentioned 4 times: but only making

In the contiguous paragraphs of this decree, explicitly mentions

reference to social housing one time in the 123º, where it

that any type of business that was administrated partially or

affirms that ‘[…] cooperative societies would be consider

fully by the government had the Mexican state as a provider

of social utility when they pursue the construction of cheap

of their right to housing and each private company, also

1_ The Porfiriato its the name given to the 31 years period in which Porfirio Diaz was presi-

2_ The implementation and execution of policies can be developed in three different levels in

dent in Mexico, from 1876 to 1911.

Mexico: Federal, state and municipal (local).

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

1921 - Economically active population of Mexico

4 883 561 Primary Sector Agriculture, animal breeding, forestry, fishing and hunting

Secondary Sector Oil, extractive, transformation, construction and power generation industry.

Tertiary Sector Trade, transport, services and government.

Not Specified

20.8% Most probable that this where all registered as parastatal companies, therefore they were the only workers registered in the Institute of Civil Pensions and Retirement.

had to provide housing and public services for their employers according to the parameters of the constitution. After the social and economical recovery from the damages caused by the revolution, from 1920 to 1930 the population started experimenting a demographic change3. From a stable rate that grew moderately, to a constant accelerated one (INEGI, 1985). In 1925 the Institute of Civil Pensions and Retirement was created, to offer a retirement pension to every worker4 ; Other significant services that were provided by this governmental entity were short-term loans of the equivalent of 3 months salary with interest rates of 12% or mortgage credits that could cover no more than the 67.2 % percent of the estate value, with a 9% rate of annual interests (CESOP, 2017). This program only benefited people who worked in the governmental entities and parastatal companies; nevertheless gave an alternative for a small group of the society to be able to buy or build their homes.

Figure 3.2 Table elaborated with information of INEGI, 1985. Because of the lack of information regarding to the number of parastatal companies and its workers, we can not give an exact number of the subscribers of the Institute of Civil Pensions and retirement, but it can be approximately deduced by the number of workers per sector as seen above. The public workers where the only ones that had the privilege of this credit program.

The 20â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s had their improvements in matter of social and political stability for the country, but this period ended abruptly when -in 1926-, the Cristero War5 took place in the center of the republic and the surrounding areas, ending in 1929. A misfortune only compared to the Bursarial Crack that occurred

3_ The life expectancy on 1910 was of 29.5 years, and at the beginning of 1930, it increased

2006).

to 36.9 years (INEGI, 1985: 76).

5_The Cristero war was supported by religious extremists who didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t approve the revoca-

4_Before 1925 the only ones that could Access to a retirement pension were the workers

tion of the power of the church in political matters. The constitution of 1917 separated the

of the government or public entities, managed by the Federal Secretary of Finances (CESOP,

church from the state and since then the extremists were dissatisfied.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

in Washington the 24 of October of the same year, condition

scandal that this laws brought6, added to the crisis in which

that reflected immediately in Mexico auguring the beginning of

the country was at the time, with no budget to create more emblematic architecture, the curiosity of a great number of architects and engineers awoke, reflecting interest in the architecture for the working class.

an economic and social crisis: ‘the great depression’.

The 1.7% annual rate demographic growth (INEGI, 1985: 16) that was being experienced by 1930, accomplished new ways of economic and social development. In response, the government developed a new Policy of Population, oriented towards the augmentation of nativity; favoring the concentration of population in the city’s historic centers, and at the same time, flourishing new neighborhoods in the periphery generated by the working class. By this end of this decade more than the 35% of the population will reside in urban centers (INEGI, 1985; 53), and this quantity made evident the need for a social housing parks and the lack of governmental economic resources to provide it.

In 1931 the 1st Federal Law of Workers was issued, by the conviction of Emilio Portes Gil. It would respond to the demands of a population that described the previous law as obsolete, requesting an update that could protect them fairly, in a Mexico that was already showing sings of transformation and modernization -regarding to housing, the document

Functionalism As A Powerful Tool The modern architecture movement, inspired in the topics brought by the 2º International Congress of Modern Architecture in Frankfurt7, create a break point in the path of Mexican architecture, dividing it in 2 strong pathways: the movements who had a theoretical background and were part of a social and political ideology; and the ones that were strictly commercial (Leal, 2016). The Functionalism movement, establishes that architecture should be designed solely based on the purpose and function. Its theoretical articulation, inspired by the need to build a new and better world after the World War I, often linked to ideas of socialism and modern humanism. This movement made a strong impact in the Mexican architecture as the solution in order to provide the minimum cost and the maximum efficiency for the supply of a growing population. The vast need for infrastructure and housing -still provided mostly by the government-, could only be fulfilled by adventuring to new styles, which adapted to sanitary and technologic improvements8.

confortable and hygienic dwelling-. After the promotion and

In 1932 appeared in the newspaper ‘Universal’ a call for engineers and architects to engage in a competition sponsored by ‘The Sample Book of Modern Construction’ office, directed

6_ One of the polemics regarding to this law was the power given to the government to

7_ The 2º International Congress of Modern Architecture in Frankfurt 1929, put on the table

recognize the union of workers that they consider and the ones who don’t, removing their

a series of topics related to the minimum dwelling units. An economic and healthy dwelling

rights to strike as a union.

that could be achieved by architectural elements such as: ventilation, illumination and

reaffirmed its position towards the right workers had to a

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

by Carlos Obregon Santacilia. The objective of the contest was to analyze the proper spatial conditions in which the working population develops, suggest the convenient improvements for their dignification and conclude with the design of a typology of housing, which will improve remarkably their quality of life (Zamorano-Villareal, C., 2013). Juan Legarreta won the first prize, the second place was for Enrique Yañez. Juan O’Gorman had an important mention as he pioneered to design a multifamily complex instead of a single-family housing typology.

The functionalist movement came to reduce the concept of ‘social housing’ into ‘minimum housing’, therefore ‘affordable housing’ (Sanchez, 2012). By 1933, the National Bank of Mortgages for Urban and Public Infrastructure (BNHUOP) was created, now called BANOBRAS (Ortega & Alberto, 2012). This entity seek to finance the construction of infrastructure and other investments that needed to be done in order to foster the economic and social development in Mexico, the number one goal in the agenda of the president at that time: Lázaro Cardenas. The need for social housing continued to increment, and with it the quest to search for an improved, cheaper and denser typology of complexes to foster social housing, financed in majority by the government and BANOBRAS. The

Figure 3.3

functionalist style was approved by society9 ; reflected in

The winning typology by Juan Legarreta was constructed in 1933.120 Houses in the neighborhood Balbuena, grouped in 4 blocks around a park.(Vázquez, 2012).

circulation (Hernandez, 2014).

9_ We must understand that the previous styles where ornamental and post-colonial, and

8_ This sanitary and technological advances also contributed to the policies of population,

had still an impact on the reflection of the economic status, therefore at the begging the

increasing the life rate and the accessibility to health.

rationalist style was rejected.

governmental actions marked the speeded rhythm in which

Mexico City, by Juan Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Gorman (1947).

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

projects of schools, medical facilities and in a more constrained

units, which stated the obligation of the housing department,

number, in housing.

to study the conditions of the most vulnerable sectors of the population. As a result, a new series of parameters

The Second World War took place by 1939, with the invasion

where established and promoted for the new peripheral

of Nazi Germany to Polonia. After a series of attacks to

neighborhoods and the popular neighborhoods in the city

Mexican war-boats, the president Manuel Avila Camacho

center. The informal settlements that kept expanding were

declared war to Germany, Italy and Japan in 1942. As a

in majority made of waste and didn’t have the minimum

result of the state of war, the costs of basic supplies and

salubrity conditions required (Sanchéz-Mejorada, 2001). The

food incremented enormously. The federal government

government gave designated areas of land in the periphery of

implemented a series of actions in order to preserve the

the cities for the most vulnerable population, these last laws

common order and safety that responded directly to the threat

became an attractive solution for the families that wanted

of a possible attack and the protection of the working class

to stop paying rent and acquire their own house, so a great

economy .

number of inhabitants moved from the city center to this

attractive new neighborhoods. One of the most important laws that were implemented are the law that suspended the increment of rents and the

The Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) was born in

promotion and improvement of the dwelling units. The Law

1943, a service offered by a tripartite monetary contribution

of Rent Protection aimed to ‘prevent the working class from

from employers, employees and a governmental fund. IMSS

being unable to control their living standards, due to the

was the corporation in charge of the policies for common

constant increase in prices for basic necessities’ (DOF, 1942).

wellbeing of the époque, providing the public service of health

This decree responded to 2 concrete matters; in one way, it

and among others, also dwelling programs for its assignees.

represented a tool to augment the acquisitive power of the

These services were only provided for formal employees

population without having to increase their monthly pay rate;

registered in syndicates. The level of benefits that you could

and on the other side, resembled as a governmental intention

access, was determinate by the power of the syndicate that

to reward the loyalty and political support that the working

you were inscribed or how aligned was the syndicate with the

class gave to the war initiative by denying the right to strike for

current political parties.

the increment of pay rates in this period. Another important action was the implementation of the law for the promotion and improvement of the dwelling

‘This exercise reflected enormously on the willing of the Mexican state to strength links with the private corporations’ (Barajas, 2009).

10_ By working class, I reefer to the most economically vulnerable sector of the population

11_ By popular, the spirit of the organism meant ‘social’, remember that put in context the

in Mexico at that time.

evolution of public housing went from: social, to minimum until cheap. In this particular decade it was refereed to as: popular.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

By the end of the second war, one might expect that the

in the industries to perform in the urban centers in order

strong measures and laws that were put in practice, were

to continue with this industrial and economic growth that

over or canceled, but they weren’t. The last reform was

Mexico was experimenting; but the insufficient supply of

made on November 1951, annuling the rent protection from commercial business such as: cantinas, bars, hairdressers, cabarets or other establishments where allowed vices took

housing was still a recurrent subject of national importance. Therefore, in 1954, the posterior ‘fund for popular housing’

place (Sanchéz-Mejorada, 2001). Because of the lack of tax

was transformed into the ‘Federal Fund for Popular Housing’

payed the government couldn’t afford to repair infrastructure

(FONHAPO), from the same institution (BANHOUP), this was

and urban equipment’s causing the deterioration of many

in order for the program to had a institutional mechanism

important historical buildings; nevertheless the private

specialized in financial activities related to the production

residential complexes owners tried to displace the neighbors, because it wasn’t an affordable business anymore.

of dwellings that came from federal subsidies (INEGI, 1994).

Other governmental action that truly impacted at the end

Due to this credits and investments, this institution constructed

of this decade, was the creation of the ‘Fund For Cheap

from 1947 to 1964, 24 098 houses and dwelling complexes –

Housing’, implemented by the National Bank of Mortgages

its majority on urban centers and Mexico city-, and mostly only

for Urban and Public Infrastructure (BNHUOP), which was

accessible to people with a good credit history (INEGI,

created to encourage the design and construction of cheap and medium cost dwellings, fractionize agricultural and periphery land into urban settlements for the use of popular

1994). To understand the magnitude of the developments that were taking place, an example could be the construction

housing; renovate the condition of unhygienic dwellings and

of the multifamily urban complex Nonoalco-Tlatelolco, with

give credits to real estate developers to build them. By 1949

12 000 apartments (INEGI, 1994). As we were mentioning

the fund for cheap housing, was transformed into the Fund for

before, most of this housing development was being built in

Popular Dwellings (FHP)11, by decree of the official diary of the

the capital –Mexico City-, and it wasn’t until 1954 when The

federation (FNHP, 2018). By the beginnings of the 50’s, the population continued growing, now on an average annual rate of 3.1% (INEGI,

National Institute of Housing (INVI) was created, when the government started to give a special attention to the demands of the lower income groups that lived in rural areas and in

1985), but this wasn’t considered as a problem because

urban centers of the provinces12. INVI promoted and developed

of the enormous quantity of workers that were needed

programs of construction and dwelling improvement.

12_ It is important to understand in this paragraphs the context of the Mexican provinces.

provinces’ in 1950-1960 we reefer to every part of the country that wasn’t the capital.

Politics were enormously centralized in Mexico City, the capital grew in population and in

13_ By transfer I mean that had the power to sell, donate or concede the right of properties

income, needing more resources than the rest of the country. When refeering to the ‘Mexican

to private investors.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

In July 27th of 1956, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) -which previously was focused mainly on the provision of health services by using tripartite income collaboration-, issued the regulation for housing services, social prevision and disability insurance from IMSS, this program became the base of the first tripartite14 dwelling program of Mexico. This program granted more than 10 000 mortgages - 8.8% of the total supply of mortgage credit in the country- and built 13 representative dwelling complexes of high density, from which we can highlight the Unity Independencia and Santa Fe, built in Mexico City. These buildings were administrated by rent, as it can be seen in the year 1943 on figure 3.4, in which the payment could not exceed from the 25% of the family income (INEGI, 1994).

1925 The Institute of Civil Pensions and Retirement

Housing supply: ‘a problem of strictly financial nature’.

Short term loans Equivalent 3 months of salary 12% Interest

Mortgages < 67.2% of estate value 9% Interest

1943 IMSS + 1943 RE

This rent administration couldn’t be sustained due to the on growing augment on the cost of maintenance services of the building and the lack of capacity of the owners to pay an increment on rent; therefore on 1962 the public housing park started to be offered to the owners as mortgages, and the ones that had a good credit history could afford it using the same IMSS program. The rest of the dwellings with owners that weren’t able to access the program were substituted by others or bought by private investors. Adding to the contribution of social security organisms; in 1959 the ISSSTE replaced the labor of the Institute of Civil Pensions and Retirement, created in 1925. The service that

14_ The tripartite collaboration meant that, even tough it was a service mostly provided

25% of the worker salary

1962 SA

The houses were put on sale. Offered to the families with good credit history. If they were not approved for credit, they were sold to private investors or other families.

Figure 3.4 - Source: Author. Its evident the fact that the state always benefited the acquirement of property through credits instead of rent programs. The lack of population that was not accredited for mortgage credit was mostly the economically vulnerable ones.

amount by charging it as tax in his the pay rate. It is still the current model in 2018.

by the government, a part had to be paid by the employer and the employee paid a smaller

Number of Credits for housing

Number of Credits for Housing

121 200

119 779

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

1965 a 1970

1947 a 1964

Social Security Organizations Other Social Security Organizations ISSSTE

This were the only credits option available for people with no credit history = 2.2%*

Social Security Organizations Other Social Security Organizations ISSSTE

Federal Organizations INVI / INDECO

IMSS Pensions Military Pensions

Financier Organizations BNHUOP/BANOBRAS FOVI

Federal Organizations Financier Organizations

Others

BNHUOP/BANOBRAS

Private Financier Organizations

Others

Acknowledging that in order to acquire benefits from a Social Security institution, you had to be a formal worker, subscribed in a syndicate.

Figure 3.5 Source: Author. In this period, the social security entities carried the important labor of the housing supply through credit programs that still had a strong governmental escrow, but others such as BNHOUP/BANOBRAS, entities that relate strictly to credit and mortgage with ‘accessible’ interest rate, start acquiring a remarkable percentage and will continue to grow in the next years.

Figure 3.6 Source: Author The acquirement of housing credit from the period of president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz was mainly represented by the Private financier institutions, which gave more than the 63.8% of the total credits, in contrast with the 36.2% given by the Social Security institutions.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

ISSSTE provided for all the workers of parastatal companies

would be destined to mortgage, reconstruction or construction

was also capitalized by collaboration between the subsidy of

credits for popular housing. This law also settled that all the

the federal government and a symbolic tax of the employee

mortgage programs would give up to 80% of the value

pay rate.

of the house as mortgage if the credit was for a house being promoted by the governmental program (INEGI,

Is important to understand that this housing guarantees given

1994). Some other organisms were created by the National

by social security organizations were only for workers who

Bank of Mexico to serve as executors, coordinators and

had a fixed salary, a working contract and were part of

supervisors of the new program, being FOVI and FOGA the

a syndicate, which means, by the beginnings of the 50â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

most representative ones.

only 1 111 544 inhabitants were in some social security program (4.3% of the population), and by 1963 it was only

One can assume that in theory this program had a strong

the 11.5%, evidencing the scope and the limitations that the

intention to cope with the lack of accessible housing by using

housing governmental actions had.

the private investment as a tool, which would increase enormously the production and therefore, respond properly to

With the experiences of 1958 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;of the economically unviability

the demand for housing; and at the same time, support the

of the IMSS projects -, the federal government concluded that

private sector of construction and land development, which

the matter of housing supply was a problem strictly of

boosted the countries economy by generating a great

financial nature (INEGI, 1994). For this purpose, in 1964 they

number of jobs and developing other sectors that could benefit

created an operative mechanism called: Financier Program

from the cvpursuit of this objectives. However, in my opinion,

of Housing (PFV), which was required to generate dwellings

this would be the beginning of the spiral that started as

with the intermediation of private investment, reducing the

the simple intention of cutting governmental funds, and

expenses of public budget. The initial purposes were: the

resulted in the absolute power that private construction

increment of popular dwellings percentage, and the facilitation

market has respecting to housing today.

of access to mortgage by implementing a framework of collaboration with private banks by issuing cheaper

As pointed out before, the way to access to this programs

interest rates than regular mortgages did. In order for the

implemented by FVP was having a good credit history;

private banks to persecute these objectives, the laws had to

therefore it had an enormous limitation to achieve the goal

change. The decree emitted by the General Law of Credit

of bringing housing opportunities to the most vulnerable

Institutions and Auxiliary Organizations established that

sector of the population, due to the fact that they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had

30% of the income generated by the savings departments

the credit history nor the means of the 20% of investment

15_ The pay rate of the employees included several taxes that were destined to social

such as the retirement savings tax that was hold by private and public banks until the day

security maters. We are familiar with the health and mortgage tax, but there were others

the worker retired.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

that was required to apply. Acknowledging that in the six-year period of president Gustavo DĂaz O. â&#x20AC;&#x201C;from 1964 to 1970- the Economically active population

responsibility of supply and construction of accessible

Workers suscribed in a Social Security Organism

housing, was of private financial institutions; (figure 3.6) the 9.3% of housing credits granted by social security institutions were overshadowed by the high percentage of mortgages granted by private financier organizations (INEGI,

12 195 991 of 12 955 057 94.14%

1970

1994). Population unable to access to a credit from this programs

How they access to Housing? Autoconstruction

(figure 3.7), had to satisfy their need for housing by financing 4 016 563 of 11 253 297 35.6%

1960

it with other institutions or building it through their own ways16.As demonstrated in figure 3.8, auto-construction without assessment meant serious problems. In urban areas

1 111 544 of 8 272 093 13.4%

1950

this contributed to the creation of popular neighborhoods, that could be compared to ghettos; and in rural areas it contributed to marginalized living conditions in isolated areas without

Millions

the basic services like intubated water, drainage system nor electricity.

Figure 3.7 Source: Author and INEGI, 1994 When we compare the total of economic active population in relation with the ones that are registered in a social security organism we identify the great number of individuals that struggled to get access to the different housing programs available, the ones that resort to auto-construction in order to provide a roof for their families

16_ The non-assisted auto-production of housing by the economic vulnerable population meant again the development of swaps and unhygienic conditions.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

Total of dwelling units in Mexico

Occupants

Occupants per dwelling

1950

1960

1970

1980

5 259 208

6 409 096

8 286 369

12 074 609

The panorama left by un-assisted auto-construction. By 1970 the total of inhabitants in Mexico reached the 47.2

25 791 017 34 923 129 48 225 238 66 365 920

4.9

5.4

5.8

5.4

million, and for the first time in the history of the country the population living in urban areas was a majority of 57.8% (INEGI, 1994); therefore the president Luis Echeveria Alvarez, since the beginning of his six-years period, had a clear view that the previous plans implemented by the private financial institutions, were not enough to guarantee the fulfillment of housing demands for the entire population groups.

Houses with water disposition

2 283 695

2 069 981

5 056 167

8 533 164

To respond in a more integral way, in 1970 all the programs Houses without water disposition

2 975 513

4 339 115

3 230 202

3 434 416

56%

67%

38%

28%

that included housing provision were reorganized by the creation of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Housing Fundsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and the National Institute for the Development of Rural Communities and Popular Housing (INDECO). This institute substituted the INV (created in 1954),

Drainage system at home

NI*

No drainage system at home

1 851 470

3 440 466

6 158 095

as a decentralized organism that offered technical help, assessment and promotion to contribute with the general

4 557 626

4 845 903

5 172 232

71%

58%

42%

housing problems. Most of the problems produced by the result of a disorganized auto-construction of the past years were in need of wide regeneration transcending the matter of housing, and this organism manifested its concern towards

NI stands for no information. All the table figures come from INEGI, 2014.

giving an integral solution for this communities, different from the policies that already had been developed.

Figure 3.8 By 1960 the higher percentage values of houses without water disposition and

According to the data of INEGI, INDECO was in charge of

drainage system at home become evident, added to the augmentation of the

the study of the particular needs in different regions

number of occupants per dwelling of 5.4, one can only imagine the terrible

of the country, the proposal of plans, the promotion of

health conditions of the residents concentrated in this type of communities.

vernacular and low-cost development of housing by using

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

community cooperation mechanisms. We may infer that this was a revolutionary attempt to that tried to analyze and transform the policies towards accessible housing by including 2005

4.2%

the communities. But the hope brought by this organism

2000

4.2%

that proclaimed the importance of building communities instead of houses with the support of governmental

4.0%

1995

frameworks and subsidies ended abruptly on 1972, ,by

4.5%

1990 1985

the creation and implementation of a new reform in the

5.4%

constitution.

1980

6.4%

1975

6.4%

1970

Published in the official diary of the federation –fraction XII of the 123º article of the constitution- established that

6.2%

1965

5.2%

1960

5.2% 0

% of Construction from the total GDP of the country Figure 3.9 Source: Author and INEGI 1994. Through the analysis of the percentage of PIB the construction sector was responsible, from the total PIB of the country, we might put in evidence the benefits the construction sector had from Gustavo Diaz Ordaz six-year period (1964-1970), when the responsibility of housing was in the hands of private financial institutions; After him, Luis Echeverria, with the creation of ‘Housing Fund’, and the association between private construction companies and social agencies, such as SARE and GEO group.

-’Every employer had the obligation to give access to their employees to a hygienic and confortable dwelling, through the tools established in the new National Fund of Housing’. The National Fund of Housing, created parallel with the law of 1972, was in charge to manage and administrate the tax charged to the pay rate of the employees, the 5% tax charged to every employer and the subsidy from the governmental programs for housing; in order to develop a system in which was able to expedite mortgages to every worker that wanted to acquire a property (INEGI, 1994). This resolution also had a great impact on public-owned housing made for parastatal companies workers. Many rented dwellings, became open for ownership by the mortgages program. At first sight, this was a governmental effort to apply the same guarantees to every worker in order to exercise the right of housing equally, but it was not.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

A series of other federal public organisms, like INFONAVIT start appearing at the same time, applying the same program but directed to different targets of industries and different markets.

Number of Credits for housing

511 044 1971 to 1979

Due to its target, the INFONAVIT was the public organism that had the greatest economic resources, and by 1974 more than 90% of the country workers were already enlisted in this program (figure 3.7) (INEGI, 1994). After the disaster of the last period where 63.8% of the credits where given by private financier institutions, the government fund the social solidarity funds. As illustrated on figure 3.10 they were the main supplier of mortgage credits in the 70â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s. One may think that this was an effort of the government to make a more effective presence in the supply of housing, but as this 54.1% of the total credits granted where for the acquisition of affordable housing made by private construction companies, its highly questionable (INEGI, 1984).

Social Security Organizations Other Social Security Organizations ISSSTE Military Pensions Federal Organization INVI Financier Organizations BNHUOP/BANOBRAS FOVI Others

Another argument that could make evident the low social interest of this program in this period was that construction companies started to report notorious increments on their economic profits. Such was the case of SARE and GEO group17 which play part in this association between this private construction companies and social solidarity programs. This construction sector was also supported by the bad practices implemented in the Agrarian Reform, executed as result of the reforms made by the constitution in the matter of Agrarian soil ownership. From 1915 to 1960, 45 million hectares were distributed to farmers and rural inhabitants (INEGI, 1994). The majority of this restructuration of the soil ownership benefited the agriculture developers, but another large part of soil was

Social Solidarity Funds INFONAVIT FOVISSSTE FOVIMI Governmental Escrow FIVIDESU Private Financier Organizations

Figure 3.10 Source: Author and INEGI, 1994. The strongest percentage of housing credits was given by Social Solidarity Organisms programs, which were made by collaboration between private companies and public funds. Another representative 20.9% of the credits came from Private financier organisms.

17_ Construction companies that even in 2018 remain strong, representing the legacy of the economic advantage given to the construction sector since 1960.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

90 100 %

1950

acquired by so called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Nylon Farmersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, a colloquialism name given to the people who acquired large amounts of lands in strategic locations, to later sell them to real state businesses or construction companies. When trying to understand the programs that were implemented in 1970, one must take into consideration that from 1973 to 1974 the public sector commenced to report an on growing economic deficit, and by 1976, when the economic crisis took place, already a large number of inhabitants reported a several loss of economic resources. Evidencing with data from INEGI, by 1970 more than the 67% of the housing park was already of private ownership. Most of them were acquired through a mortgage from a social program that now they were unaable to pay because of the crisis (INEGI, 1994).

1960

1970

1980

1990

Not Owned House Owned House Figure 3.11

This hypothesis can be reflected by the fact that, as seen in figure 3.8, the number of inhabitants per dwelling reached a historic value of 5.8 inhabitants per house living in an average of 51m2 (Sanchez, 2012). In this period a federal organism was also created to regulate the urban and rural settlements development called: Secretary of Human Settlements and Public Infrastructure Development (SAHOP). SAHOP took in account the protection of the ecology in the development of new complexes and foreseeing an equal distribution of economic resources through the access of housing.

Source: Author and INEGI, 1994. Relation between the houses acquired as property and houses acquire as rent or other according to INEGI, 2013 and the Census of respective years.

The economy in Mexico saw the light at the end of the tunnel on 1978, thanks to the discovery of several oil deposits and

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

the international increment of its prices, reflecting a favorable impact on the economy (INEGI, 1994), but it wouldn’t be until 1982 when a stronger crisis arrived. The devaluation of the national currency manifested in the economic solvency of the private and public sector, and consecuently the problems of informal settlements were more evident.

This made a previous entry for the following approval of the ‘Federal Law of Dwelling’ (SEGOB, 1982). The importance of this organism was that put itself as the coordinator of every other housing program, integrating all of them to follow a concrete plan that would be developed by every six-years period.

The SAHOP transformed into: The Secretary of Urban Development and Ecology (SEDUE). The goal of the organism remained the same: promote an integral approach between settlements expansion, urban development and the protection of the ecology. One may interpret that the government was beginning to realize the uncontrollable expansion of the informal settlements and how it affected the distribution of services and prejudice the ecology. In 1980 the principal death causes were related to contagious diseases and accidents; the contiguous diseases being related with unhygienic environments and the accidents as a cause of urbanization and industrialization (INEGI, 1994).

The most remarkable actions that were in charge of this organization were the promotion and supervision of active and responsible participation between the social and private sector; the integration of dwelling into its ecological environment18; the provision of information and diffusion of

By 1983 several modifications were made to the constitution in order to plan a new way to confront and battle the effects of the crisis. One of the most important modifications was the promotion of the right of housing into a matter of federal importance. In the article 4º of the Mexican constitution establishes that:

–’Every family, has the right to a dignified and decorous dwelling’-

18_ This would be the first constitutional effort to bring up the sustainable matter.

the existing programs and more. Again, the Federal Law of Dwelling resembled hope, the same way the INDECO did in 1970, but in a superior level of governance. In 1985, while the 20% of the population lived in the capital, the city suffered the biggest earthquake in history. It registered 8.1 grades in the Richter scale, and lasted approximately 2 minutes (Sanchez, 2012). This catastrophe left the city as a big puzzle while schools, hospitals, governmental buildings and houses were collapsed o seriously damaged19. The services such as lines of communication, electricity, sanitary and hydraulic services were also affected. This completely changed the way the government had to intervene in the matter of housing: from integral, environmental and organized actions (according to the new law of dwelling), to a state of emergency.

19_ An approximate of 2 831 units were affected (Sanchez, 2012).

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

The Post-earthquake Housing Demand

most economically vulnerable population the oportunity to

These natural phenomena impacted directly in the pillars

with an average area of 40 m2 (Sanchez, 2012).

acquire dwelling in ownership (Esquivel, 2015). In this program an approximate number of 44 000 dwellings were constructed

of the Mexican stability –economic, politic and socially-, resulting in a new conception of the importance of quality

From 1983 to 1990, a total of 2 020 575 new dwellings

and construction regulations. Relevant events such as the

were built, incrementing in 395% the number built on the

collapse of multifamily buildings and high-density complexes

previous six-year period. The main institution that provided

turn high density into a reflection of vulnerability and

accessible housing was FOVI-BANCA, a program created

insecurity; therefore, the population started to demand from

since 1963, giving financial support and guarantees for

the market a ‘more secure’ offer. This demand allowed the

the construction and acquisition of housing. This company

beginning of the horizontal housing development.

canalizes the federal escrow designated to housing programs, through auctions between the construction and development

In the previous years, the law of rent protection had left a

companies registered in FOVI; also acts as an intermediary

perverse effect: for the owners, it wasn’t economically viable

between financial organizations and people who wants to

to rent dwellings to families with low incomes; therefore the

acquire a mortgage. Basically functioning as a mediator and

maintenance of the buildings was minimum and in several

supervisor of the provision and acquirement of housing.

cases none. After the earthquake, there were several reports of owners evicting the tenants or even demolishing

By 1992 SEDUE was in charge of administrating and qualifying

buildings that weren’t even affected (Esquivel, 2015).

the use of land, in order to control the location and permission of its use, but in order to be able to confront the reality of

In order to prevent this abuse, the president Miguel De La

a log term plan, it merged with the Secretary of Budget

Madrid expropriated 7 000 plots, in order to guarantee

Programming (SPP), organism that administrated the program

the permanence of the vulnerable population in their

of national solidarity. The combination of this lead to the

neighborhoods. Supplementary of this expropriation, the

creation of: SEDESOL, a revolutionary organization that aimed

government created the Popular Dwelling Renovation Program

to ‘fight poverty through housing and access to public

(RHP), commissioned of the reconstruction of the popular

community spaces’ (CIPET, 2018). Information that confirmed

dwelling complexes. The official diary of the federation

the vision that six-year period of Carlos Salinas De Gortari had,

established that the RHP would repair, rehabilitate, reconstruct

in order to combat poverty and inequality: the access to a

the dwelling of the affected by the earthquake, giving the

dwelling ownership.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

Number of Credits for Housing

In the posterior years the public administration in Mexico

1 995 692

in: privatization of public companies, simplification of

1983 a 1990

the administration, decentralization of governance and

experimented drastic changes, many of them can be resumed

endoprivatization20 of public services. One of these examples could be the modification realized to the 27º article of the constitution regarding to the ownership of land. The communal property called: ejido21, was transformed into private property. Until then there were 103.5 million hectares (Medina, 2016), which passed to be incorporated to the free market. At his 3rd presidential report, Carlos Salinas de Gortari announced that in his opinion:

Federal Organizations Financier Organizations BNHUOP/BANOBRAS* FOVI-Banca Others Social Solidarity Funds INFONAVIT FOVISSSTE FOVIMI FONHAPO Governmental Escrow - FIVIDESU State Institutions

- ‘the ejido, was a way to continue submerging the peasants in poverty, because most of the lands no longer represented a factor of contribution to progress of the rural families’- (Correa, 1991). These phenomena -that can be appreciated in the figure 3.13 represented a great economic opportunity for the landowners and a great number sold the lands to private developers, to later be transformed in dwelling complexes. Added to the perverse collaboration that the land regulations ipromoted by changing the land typology from rural to urban, resulted in the development of massive areas of dwelling complexes far in the periphery of the cities.

Figure 3.12 Source: Author and INEGI, 1994.

Many construction companies developed a great economic

In this period the social solidarity funds didn’t get as much protagonism as the

profit from the construction of social housing. At the same

previous period, due to the federal contribution to the affected population of

time that the demand of housing was highly supplied, the

the earthquake and other financier organizations.

product was not efficient and full of limitations as can be

20_ Meaning: the substitution of the administration of public matters by the use of the

economic development, instead of social development.

idea, methodology and techniques of the private investment spirit. Seeking the interest of

21_ Granted to the different unions of farmers by the agrarian reform since 1910.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

seen in figure 1.14. In 1994 a new crisis strike the Mexican economy, and with it the growth of the housing sector aspirations. 2005

4.2%

The Housing Boom

2000

After 71 years in which all the Mexican presidents had

1995

6.5%

1990

6.6%

been members of the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) -or parties before it-, the 1st of December of 2000, Vicente Fox became the first president of Mexico from a different party –PAN-. SEDESOL was an important organism in this period, which

5.4%

1985

8.4%

1980

8.2% 9.5%

1975

inspired by the World Bank guidelines for the Mexican housing policies, procured a new public management aiming that: all federal actions were directed towards a common objective. The first step taken in order to reconfigure the strategy was to reorganize INFONAVIT,

1970

11.2%

1965

13.6%

1960

15.6%

FOVISSSTE and FONHAPO by creating organisms in different level of governance to decentralize and coordinate the housing programs and policies, such as CONAFOVI and CONOREVI and SHF. As established on the new National Development plan for Fox’s six-year period, the New Sectorial Housing Program was implemented (2001-

% agriculture, forestry and fishing of the total GDP of the country

2006). This plan established housing as an important topic of Social and Human Development importance, creating the national housing plan was a tool to orientate towards a

Figure 3.13

same result all the actions that were being implemented in

The decrease of the percentage of PIB from the agriculture, forestry and fishing

different levels of governance towards housing ownership

sector compared with the total PIB of the country ‘reflected’ the economical

programs .

unviability and trouble the agricultural communities where facing.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

The study made previous to this program, evidenced the lag of housing in Mexico, 7.56 thousand families didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have an independent space where to live. In total, the country needed the construction of 1 811 000 units and 2 480 000 dwellings needed to be repaired and/or maintenanced (SEGOB, 2001), and the new party at the presidency wanted to affront this challenge by producing 750 000 dwelling units per year. The goal was to reactivate the economy by the implementation of a new financial entity: The Federal Mortgage Society (SHF), which objective would be to promote housing through the grant of governmental subsidies, authorization of credits and special guarantees to private construction companies to develop a massive number of social housing units. These houses would be acquired through mortgage credits issued by third financial companies affiliated to the program. By interpreting the data given by the INEGI and the objectives described on the official diary of the federation concerning this plan, the intentions of the program were mainly social, but as seen in the figure 3.15, it highly contributed to opportunities and benefits given to the construction sector in this period. By 2001, the construction industry employed 2.2 million Figure 3.14

people and the boost it gave to the countries economy transcended in more than 37 different economic activities

Picture by Corona, L. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Overnight City III.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Durango, Mexico. 2009.

branches (SEGOB, 2001), reflecting as 4.25% of the total

The dwelling demand was highly supplied by great extensions of land turned into one-family housing developments in the periphery of cities, mostly from former ejido properties.

PIB on 2001 (INEGI, 2009). The empowerment of the construction empire was just starting to show and as it grew,

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

the government restated its role as mere promoter. The great quantity of one-family houses units â&#x20AC;&#x201C; mainly

horizontally developed-, built between 2000 and 2006 22, boost the economy and created historical dwelling numbers for

the population, but the access to this units was restrained by the ability to pay and the current conditions of the social service you were affiliated to. While public programs were develop for urban and rural families with low income, this were more programs related to

20 15

combating poverty and promoting social development, not to the sectorial housing program. The results showed

a strengthening of heterogeneous conditions for the real state market and the access to housing. The construction industry, privileged by the subsidies channeled

by the government in order to boost the economic activity,

On June 2006, the official diary of the federation published a new Housing Federal Law. This law had a lot of similarities with its predecessor, but included new strategies to fight

2010

2005

2000

1995

1990

1980

1970

1960

lacked of access to public community services.

1950

considerations on territorial development and frequently

1929

permitted the management of housing units without any

Total of dwelling units in Mexico Owned Not Owned

the lack of credit supply to the economically vulnerable population, a new vision of sustainability and a new type of

Figure 3.15

collaboration between the public, private and civil societies.

According to the data recorded in INEGI, from 200 to 2010, one can perceive

The law established the meaning of a decent and dignified

the growth rate only compared with the one of the 80â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, in the years recalled

house to be...

as the stable and prosperous years of Mexico.

22_ From 2000 to 2006, the mortgage and subsidy Access for housing incremented 114% compared to the previous six-year period (Arteaga, 2015).

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

‘Decent and dignified housing will be considered as the one that complies with the applicable legal dispositions regarding human settlements and construction, habitability, health, access to basic services and provides its occupants with legal security regarding their property or legitimate possession, and contemplates criteria for the prevention of disasters and the physical protection of its occupants against potentially aggressive natural elements’ (Correa, 2012). Evidentiating an the attempt to acknowledge the mistakes of the lack of administration and urban planning from the last year of the presidential period when PAN party was

In the elections of 2007, the PAN party won again, which meant a continuity of the previous vision for housing. The government of Calderon, stated ‘housing’ as an important part of his agenda, but now focused mostly on the access to housing and mortgages to more vulnerable members of the society. In order to fulfill his vision, he created subsidies and financial programs for the workers who earned less than 4 minimum salaries and wanted to acquire housing or a credit for the construction or restoration. This came from the study made by CONAVI, through the acknowledgement that there were different social groups that acquired housing -as seen on Figure 3.16-.

in power; which consisted in approving and promoting housing developments in great extensions of land in the peripheries of cities, without any consideration of the natural environment and lacking of basic services such as collective transport system or garbage picking. The commission responsible to administrate and exercise the new vision was The National Housing Council (CONAVI). With the creation of CONAVI, inclusion of Housing as an institutional right was legitimately validated (Correa, 2012). Even tough it would seem that this denomination would come with a strong governmental willing towards the actions that were being taken respect to housing, it only was as an agreement between Mexico and international treaties to consider housing as a human right by the implementation of a series of recommendations to the corresponding organisms of housing.

The 1st group is equivalent to the 40-50%, of the population doesn’t have a fixed income and its not subscribed in any social security institution; the 2nd, represents the 10-20%, families who are not subscribed in any social security institution, but have economic solvency -this families could be able to access to any form of credit if there were tools that substituted the lack of credit record-; the 3rd group its constituted by families who are subscribed in a social security program and have economic solvency, supported by mortgage organisms such as ISSSTE, INFONAVIT and more; the 4th group, its equivalent to 10% of the population, which has the economic solvency and can acquire a mortgage from a public organism or a private financial entity (Correa, 2012). This was the first attempt of its kind to identify the typology of financial obstacles that each group to society had, but

(waste collection, water, electricity and other public services), management and authorization

companies, to special mortgage plans for the residents, provision of infrastructure and equip-

of construction licenses and more. The financial incentives are from loans to the construction

ment, and more. (Sanchez, 2012)

Type of housing production. Access to credit and economic resources. 40-50%

10%

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a fixed income. Are not subscribed in a SSI. Cant apply for a mortgage.

Have Economic Solvency. Can acquire a mortgage through a SS program or a private financial institution.

10-20% Are not subscribed in a SSI

30% Subscribed in a SSI.

Have economic solvency to get a credit in a private financial institution.

Get a credit supported by a SS program such as INFONAVIT, FOVISSSTE, FOVIMI, etc.

Figure 3.16 According to the SHF in its last report of: Current state of housing in Mexico, 2011, from 40 to 50% of the population are not able to benefit from the social security programs and institutions, and without the access to a fixed income they

it was far from representing the need of housing that each family needed in order to improve their quality of life. A Representative program of the period of 2006-2012 was Integral Sustainable Urban Developments (DUIS),created also as a technical support in order to develop an integral vision of development for the housing complexes that continued to be built in the peripheral areas of the Mexican cities. This projects aimed an integral development with mix use areas in order to create satellite cities. The benefits of participating in this kind of projects for the private companies were the technical incentives given by the federal government to the private developers. Depending on the score given to the project by the committee, the incentives could be: assistance in ecological information, public services provision (waste collection, water, electricity and other public services), management and authorization of construction licenses, loans to the construction companies, special mortgage plans for the residents, and more. (Sanchez, 2012) The DUIS were defined as development areas, which were integrally planned, contributing to the territorial ordinance of municipalities, providing a more equally and responsible urban planning and development. They aspired to be a development engine through public equipment, services and housing, to combat the typology of dormitory towns that was being built previously (Sanchez, 2012). The program lacked of citizen participation and sense of identity for the communities, as well as poor

are also not able to apply for a private financier institution mortgage.

23_ Depending on the score given to the Project by the committee, the technical incentives

(waste collection, water, electricity and other public services), management and authorization

can be: assistance in ecological information, public services provision to the development

of construction licenses and more. The financial incentives are from loans to the construction

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

provision of public services -characteristic that represented social housing complexes-. These developments were built in the outskirts of the city and had no other connection to it than through highways. Recognizing the lack of housing as a problem that affected different social groups and areas, each with different restrictions of mortgage and subsidy access, was fundamental for the next National Plan of Development to be able to create a new set of tools more oriented to specific characteristics. But then again it failed in providing quality of life and focused on providing access to a mortgage for a dwelling unit. On December of 2012, a new president took over. The revolutionary party that had been on the power for 72 years and then was interrupted by 2 six-year periods by the PAN party came reclaiming power, and displaying it by changing the previous visions of the National Plan. The responsibility of coordination of housing initiatives will now correspond to The Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development Department, incorporating existing institutions and organizations such as CONAVI. It considered as priority: the mortgage credits expedition for the urban areas of the country, and the improvement and maintenance of housing in the rural areas (Correa, 2012). The acclaimed new set of rules, was short in innovation and vision, but at least made a differentiated action plan to between rural and urban and gave power to the restoration and house renovation topic in the new National

Figure 3.17 Source: Uniradioinforma, 2014. Example of a DUIS project of San Pedro Valley located next to the Tijuana-Tecate road. The total land surface of the project was of 5843 ha, only 1 942 ha were developed. Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.

companies, to special mortgage plans for the residents, provision of infrastructure and equipment, and more. (Sanchez, 2012)

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

Development Plan developed for the 2014 to 2018 period. This last plan, followed the national mission towards becoming an inclusive country. In the housing diagnosis, 3 action areas were identified: access to dignified housing, social basic infrastructure and territorial development. This action plan aknowledged the problematic of extensive housing units constructions in peripherial locations, and the cost they represented in provision of public services to this typologies. Their strategy consisted in the provision of legal power to the municipalities â&#x20AC;&#x201C;through their IMPLAN- to restrain the growth of their cities through contention perimeters; as well as by highly promoting the vertical development without any specifications. Mexican city centers continued to lack of a social housing strategy, but instead became more expensive and only accessible through private banks mortgages. As the social housing complexes built in the peripheral areas of Mexican cities started to depopulate because of their inability to provide a good quality of life for its residents and became nuclei of insecurity. Currently, the drop of petroleum prices has affected the budget of many governmental programs, but housing still remained as a strong mission. Diverse official announcements acknowledge the importance of FOVISSSTE and INFONAVIT as credit suppliers and the possibilities of expanding the subsidies to houses already built -in need of improvement or maintenance- and the increasing demand for a housing rental system for workers whose income is insufficient to access to a credit nor live in the city center close to better job opportunities and access to quality public services.

3.3 -

How housing and neighborhood development typologies were shaped by the policies and ideas of prosperity of each period.

The academic relevance of this thesis is the linkage it creates between political, economic, social and environmental trends and how they shaped housing policies in Mexican cities. Its of main importance to understand which trends were key factors when policymakers decided that it was time for change, which were the legal tools and how they were able to promote older policies as obsolete and the acceptance of new policies required. This exercise will evidence that most of the current housing policies and programs are obsolete according to the current needs and trends in Mexico and will propose models that will revert the process of urban poverty. Continuing with the hypothesis of the need to create social programs and public policies in a simultaneous way to an infrastructure investment, it is necessary to comprehend the effect that older policies had in the morphology of the space and the power they have to shape our cities and our housing units. The historical analysis of social housing typologies will

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

Post Revolution and Reconstruction

The Beginning of Verticality. Ermita Building Minimum Housing Minimum House for Workers

1940

1950

1960

Industrialization and Urban Development

was the agenda following the ideal of prosperity of the time or was the ideal of prosperity of the time shaping the agenda of the president?.

1930

1980

Multi-family Complexes Urban Center, President Alemรกn

Satelite Cities Olympic Villa

1970 Populism

followed the promotion of the precise political agenda of the president elected and each will bring up the question:

1920

Housing Built in Serie Ricardo Flores Magรณn Housing Unit

1990

2000

Neoliberalism

illustrate a representative complex of its time, what where the policy elements that affected its morphology -figure 3.18-, such as land use, density, location and m2 per dwelling unit; and also the financial characteristics that illustrate who was able to access to this housing offer and its promotion. Another curious fact will be that each typology

2010

2020

Figure 3.18 Source: Author.

Main Characteristics Building Ermita, Juan Segura. Location:

Rural

Periphery

Sub Urban Area

Urban Area

Unit Typology:

Dwelling Block

Built in Serie

Complex

Front View of Ermita Building, 1933.

Land Uses:

Residential

Commercial

Offices

Others

Promotion:

Public

Private

In this picture we are able to appreciate all the commercial ground floor and the entrance to the building by a small plaza left in the residual space left by the shape of the street.

Public Subsidy + Private Investment

Acquirement mode:

Ownership Mortgage

Rent

Others

Aerial view of Ermita Building and the Tacubaya Neighborhood (1933).

Acquirement Profile: $

Citizens with economic solvency

State-owned Company Workers

Citizens without good credit history

Citizens with no economic solvency

Social Security Subscribers

Citizens with good credit history

This iconic building was a pioneer of the vertical apartments in Mexico city, as it can be perceived in the picture, the scale is contrasting from the rest of the existing dwelling units.

Social Housing Typologies: Historical Analysis

The Ermita building was one of the first vertical dwelling units in Mexico, announcing the arrival of a new typology of inhabitants in urban cities. The high demands of housing units that was required for the on growing modern population in urban centers added to the technical advances of the ĂŠpoque boosted the consolidation of the vertical typology, to achieve better use of the land available by its promoters. The goal of the new vertical buildings was to reflect modernity. From the outside, they established a new mixed typology of commerce and services on the ground floor, strongly relating with the users of the sidewalks; from the inside, users accessed to technological advances such as elevators and electricity, and the dwellings having luxurious open terraces and semi-private rooftops for the residents. There were two typologies of dwelling units, studios and two bedroom apartments separated by two different courtyards, which allowed different types of users. The history of the mix-use vertical housing gave the solution to satisfy the demand, with the compactness and modernity that the urban areas were requesting. Most of these buildings were owned and constructed by private investors1, and represented an icon of modernity imposed in renovated buildings in the city center or as an anchor in developing neighborhoods, in Mexico city would be the case of Polanco and Condesa borough (Canales, 2017). As this technologies became more economically accessible, this apartments became the perfect accommodation for the population that came from the rural areas to work in the city, where they could find an affordable house in a centric location and close to other services in a walking distance.

The Beginning of Verticality Ermita Building Juan Segura

M2 Land Surface 1 400 M2 Project Displacement 12 600 100 % Density 642 inhab/ha Number of Dwelling Units 78 Average M2 of Dwelling Units 112 M2

1931 Pascual Ortiz Rubio (1930-1932) Modernization and Prosperity after the Mexican Revolution in 1920. Modernity - Flexibility - Compactness

1_ It wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be until two more decades when The Condominium Law would permit that a property is owned by two or more people.

Main Characteristics Minimum Worker House, Juan Legarreta. Location:

Rural

Periphery

Sub Urban Area

Urban Area

Unit Typology:

Built in Serie

Dwelling Block

Complex

Urban Integration of Balbuena Complex.

Land Uses:

Residential

Commercial

Offices

Others

Promotion:

Public

Private

The open complex was divided by a big public park and the equal modular division, reflected a same social status for all its inhabitants.

Public Subsidy + Private Investment

Acquirement mode:

Ownership

Rent

Others

The Minimum Module: Facade and Interior Space (1937)

Acquirement Profile: $

Citizens with economic solvency

State-owne d Company Workers

Citizens without good credit history

Citizens with no economic solvency

Social Security Subscribers

Citizens with good credit history

The simplicity of materials and volumes of the house reflected enormously on the cost, making them more affordable. The reduced spaces exercised a new family dynamic of open spaces and flexible uses.

Social Housing Typologies: Historical Analysis

Minimum Housing

The minimum housing came as a desire to reflect a postrevolutionary egalitarian Mexican society, in which workers had the opportunity to acquire the ownership of a house through the various credit programs granted by social security institutions. From the

Minimum House for Workers Juan Legarreta

crises that the government faced and its inability to continue creating iconic architecture, the architects directed their interest to the common architecture, seeking to create a typology that would solve the unceasing demand of housing by the most economically vulnerable sector, which demanded their right to the city (Canales, 2017) . The typology rose from the ideas of a group of influential architects in Mexico2 who, representing the ideals of European rationalism, decided to participate in the first worker-housing contest in the country on 1932. The winner was Juan Legarreta, with a proposal based on in his thesis of the house ‘Elorduy’, represented in this set of affordable worker-housing Balbuena.

M2 Land Surface 26 600 M2 Project Displacement 9 235 13 % Density 243 inhabs/ha Number of Dwelling Units 108 Average M2 of Dwelling Units 55 and 67 M2

This period, inspired by the ideas of the second modern CIAM congress in Frankfurt, Germany, interpreted in its restricted spaces of 50m2 a new Mexican family dynamic of efficiv ency and great flexibility in repeated modules unfolding in large areas of land on the periphery, and some minimal intervention units within the city. A great contribution of this typology was that it had a strong impact on the relationships that its inhabitants had with the city and with working areas, given that some of the most representative prototypes invited to convert the lower part of the house into a workshop space or a commercial area (Yepez, J. 2016).

1932 - 1933 Abelardo Rodríguez Luján (1932 - 1934) Modernization, prosperity and access to a housing unit ownership.A style that adapts the sanitary and technological improvements. Functionalism and Rationalism.

2_ Some of the most influential architects of this period, that created prototypes and large extension projects of the minimum worker-house were: Juan Legarreta, Juan O’Gorman and Enrique Yañez.

Main Characteristics Urban Center President Alemán. Location:

Periphery

Rural

Sub Urban Area

Urban Area

Unit Typology:

Dwelling Block

Built in Serie

The Superblock As A Replacement for the Minimum House Displacement.

Complex

Land Uses:

Residential

Commercial

Offices

Urban Equipment

Promotion:

Public

Private

This configuration allowed the conquest of peripheral areas of the city without renouncing to the services and equipment the city center provided to its inhabitants.

Public Subsidy + Private Investment

Acquirement mode:

Ownership Mortgage

Rent

Others

The Wide, Inviting Corridors.

Acquirement Profile: $

Citizens with economic solvency

State-owned Company Workers

Citizens without good credit history

Citizens with no economic solvency

Social Security Subscribers

Citizens with good credit history

The hallways were reduced to every 3 levels because the apartments were duplexes. The open and continuous connections around the building developed encounters and invited to ‘see and be seen’.

Social Housing Typologies: Historical Analysis

Multi-Family Complexes

The multi-family complexes were created in the mid-twentieth

Urban Center President Alemán

century, in order to supply the need for housing while densifying the city. These projects, unlike the vertical apartments, established

Mario Pani, Salvador Ortega, J. de Jesus Gutierrez y Genaro Rosenzweig

a new order in the ways of inhabiting as society and parameters to deal with the expansion of cities. Driven by the growing economy and the idea of a supplier state during the Mexican Miracle years, the Urban Center President Aleman came from a

M2 Land Surface 40 000

governmental promotion, which sought to develop a series of 200 housing units for parastatal workers4, in a less urbanized

M2 Project Displacement 104 000

area, in the south of Mexico City.

20 %

This new complexes aimed to ‘create a city, within the city (Sanchez, 2012)’. Pani, faithful to the modern parameters of

Density 1350 inhabs/ha

Le ‘Corbusier, left the ground floors of the building free as circulation and managed to occupy with residences no more

Number of Dwelling Units 1 080 Average M2 of Dwelling Units 48 - 108 M2

than 20% of the total surface of the estate, leaving 10% for services, 55% recreational and 15% of vehicular circulation, accessible to residents of the complex and the general public. The finishes and textures of the complex are austere but of great quality, which meant little maintenance, resembling the prehispanic constructions.

1949

The importance of this typology is that it served to reformulate the way in which the peripheries of the city were being

Miguel Alemán Valdés (1946-1952)

colonized, supplanting the single-family minimal model by one superblock, equipped with services and public equipment,

The Federal Estate as a provider.

as well as a wide variety of uses that allowed having commerce and office complexes at short distance. Due to the great

Reflect the Mexican Miracle Years3 through a new urban order.

magnitude of a project such as CUPA, new multidisciplinary teams had to be created for the design and construction of this type of complex.

3_ The years between 1954 and 1970 where the Mexican state account for a stable and increasing

4_ At the time, the parastatal workers were one of the most economically solvent group in the

PIB.

country.

Main Characteristics Olympic Villa Location:

Periphery

Rural

Sub Urban Area

Urban Area

Unit Typology:

Dwelling Block

Built in Serie

The Rich Mixture of Land Uses and High Density

Complex

Land Uses:

Residential

Commercial

Offices

Urban Equipment

Promotion:

Public

Private

The size and density of this typology allowed the projects to provide its inhabitantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recreational public spaces, job opportunities, access to public health clinics and relatively accessible housing, with the plus of having a direct connection to the city.

Public Subsidy + Private Investment

Acquirement mode:

Ownership Mortgage

Rent

Others

The Plug of the Satelite City.

Acquirement Profile: $

Citizens with economic solvency

State-owned Company Workers

Citizens without good credit history

Citizens with no economic solvency

Social Security Subscribers

Citizens with good credit history

The innovative development of infrastructure in this period, led the satellite developments to be well connected to the city center through highways or even metro.

Social Housing Typologies: Historical Analysis

Satelite Cities

Complexes such as Olympic Villa, Mixcoac Towers and Patera building were icons in the typology that followed after the

Olympic Villa

construction of multi-family complexes. From these new models, the housing problem stopped being seen as something isolated that could be solved with high-density multifamily

Hernández A., González M., Torres R.,Velázquez H. y Ortega C.

constructions in the periphery, to be seen as a growing pressure to transform the blurred threshold between the periphery and the city that continued to become less and less evident.

M2 Land Surface 234 000

This new vision demanded that these complexes contributed to

M2 Project Displacement 157 800

its inhabitants – apart from supplying accessible housing – with education, health, work and access to transportation. They were characterized by their sense of public spaces, use of varied typologies, mixed uses, squares or gardens and by a low occupation of land. They settled in large areas and their goal was to maintain a balance between green areas, built space and direct access to the city. They aimed to satisfy all the labor and recreational needs of its users, as well as to connect the complex to the city center through massive public transport

20 % Density 370 inhabs/ha Number of Dwelling Units 1 064 Average M2 of Dwelling Units 125 M2

systems and direct highways. This peculiar complex “Olympic Villa”5 was primarily built in order

1968

to host the athletes of the Mexican Olympic games of 1968, but it followed the satellite city typology that was innovative and promoted from 1964 to 1976 (Canales, 2017). Located in Tlalpan - a former periphery of Mexico city-, was at first composed by 9

Gustavo Díaz Ordaz (1964-1970) Urban growth and Economic Housing Offer

hectares owned by BANOBRAS , and later complemented with 6

20,000 M2 donated by privates. After fulfilling its purpose the apartments of the complex were sold to private owners, but the sports facilities and public areas maintenance

The evolution of the housing problem as isolated to a complex network of public infrastructure, access to jobs and affordable housing as a unit.

remain in the care of the municipality.

5_ The complex is currently named “Villa Olímpica Libertador Miguel Hidalgo”.

6_ BANOBRAS was the National Bank of Mortgages for Urban and Public Infrastructure. Public institution created in 1933 with the name of BNHUOP.

Main Characteristics Ricardo Flores MagĂłn Housing Unit Location:

Periphery

Rural

Sub Urban Area

Urban Area

Unit Typology:

Built in Serie

Dwelling Block

Complex

The Heterogeneity of the Ensemble.

Land Uses:

Zhon left a firm quality base of minimum housing, Residential

Commercial

Offices

Urban Equipment

which could be gradually expanded according to the

Promotion:

familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs.

Public

Private

Public Subsidy + Private Investment

Acquirement mode:

Ownership Mortgage

Rent

Others

The Autoconstruction Manual.

Acquirement Profile: $

Citizens with economic solvency

State-owned Company Workers

Citizens without good credit history

Citizens with no economic solvency

Social Security Subscribers

Citizens with good credit history

Carefully guaranteeing a safe and homogeneous development, each program came with an auto construction manual, which guided the process of the next inhabitants.

Social Housing Typologies: Historical Analysis

Housing Built in Serie

Housing conception as a serial product started in 1972 with the creation of INFONAVIT and remained mostly publicly promoted for approximately 20 years7. This period developed the greatest number of social housing units –even at a national level-,

Ricardo Flores Magon Housing Unit Alejandro Zhon

placing INFONAVIT as one of the most important mortgage institutions of the world.

M2 Land Surface 74 545

The sociopolitical problems of the 1968 revolts, the crisis of the

M2 Project Displacement 44 070

modern movement, the impossibility of resolving the housing shortage, the devastation caused by the 1985 earthquake and

30 %

the severe economic crises in the 80’s, forced a change of

Density 304 inhabs/ha

typology that was far from every progress achieved until the middle of the 20th century in Mexico. The high-density complexes became containers of great disillusionment,

Number of Dwelling Units 454 Average M2 of Dwelling Units 97 M2

distrust, and insecurity from its inhabitants , which caused a 8

great change of the market’s demand and caused the return to the house understood as a single unit (CTPM,2016). It continued in hands of public financing and developed in

1977

great extensions of land, the projects no longer attempted to regularize urban fabrics, but rather to adapt more

José López Portillo (1976 - 1982)

naturally to the particular conditions of each place, each user and their economic possibilities. Flores Magón’s project

Housing access as guarantee of prosperity

represents those last moments when politicians, architects,

Use the construction industry to generate economy growth, whithout taking the housing demand into consideration

and urban planners worked together on large-scale projects. Reflecting in Zhon’s work a flexible architecture, waiting kindly for the autoconstruction transformations of its users.

7_ Cuales fueron las reformas politicas que hicieron que este periodo solo durara aprox 20

8_ Los grandes espacios publicos eran el foco de reunion y de severas manifestaciones entre la

años?fue cuando ya entro mas el privado?

poblacion por ejemplo BLABLA...

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

3.4 -

The need for new guidelines for housing policies and typologies.

The last national development plan (2012-2018) was characterized for its attempt to decentralize housing policies by empowering the municipal planning institutes (IMPLAN) of each city through the containment of urban perimeters stopping uncontrolled expansion, as well as demanding from each IMPLAN an analysis convenient locations to promote housing development. 2018 was an elections year and for the first time in Mexico, the presidency was occupied by an extreme left party; for this reason, the topic of housing is now full of uncertainty how it will fit in the new political agenda of the country. So far, the national development plan 2018-2024 - published a few months ago â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ignored its chronological order and compelled social security and housing secretaries to a year of dispersed efforts and any fixed direction.

This is why I emphasize the importance of a sustainable project that not only depends on the constant economic support of the government but through a catalyzing infrastructure and community programs that transcend breaking the circle of poverty. Therefore, we will analyze current national trends and other topics of interest to which will enable the posterior

9_ Only the XX% of the womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population is economically inactive because they are

understanding of its spatial implications in our cities and posterior proposals to transfrom urban poor cities in Mexico. Some of the topics of interest are economy, society, mobility and housing â&#x20AC;&#x201C; as well as others that work as a secondary reinforcement of the main axes like job access or health -.

3.4.1 - The connection between urban poverty, access to jobs and inequality. The main hypothesis of this thesis was that access to quality housing is the key to fight urban poverty but, how if we use the house unit as a catalyzer for economic prosperity for urban poor communities?. I began identifying the characteristics of the population over 12 years old that is economically active and inactive. The curious fact was that over the years there was a punctual variation between economically active and not population around the eighties and nineties, and further research brought up that it was due to a large drop of women registered as economically active. Women are 52% of the total population in Mexico (INEGI, 2017) however they only make up for the 43.2% of the total workforce9. Then, we should ask:

how can we encourage the current economic models so they can be attractive for the % of women that want to work

mothers or age-related issues as inability to work and lack of interest.

focused on their studies. The other XX% has to do with a cultural choice as stay-at-home

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

100%

Average possition for every 10 occupied workers... Employees

Boss

Entrepreneurs

80%

from 1970 to 2010 60%

Proposal based on trend... 40% 1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

20%

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

The percentage of population above 12 years old that are occupied and inactive in the current workforce by sex.

Figure 3.17 - Source: Author with information of INEGI, 2010.

and they are unable for some reason?. Studying the current economic models, it can be seen that there has been no drastic change over the years since 1970 â&#x20AC;&#x201C;until the last economic census on 2010- (figure 3.18). From every 10 economically active Mexicans: 7.4 work as employees, .6 generates employment as bosses of their companies and only 2 work for themselves as small business owners, freelancers and entrepreneurs.

Goal

_ Transform small companies into intermediaries or outsourcers _ Generate specialized job positions

Asses the small companies for them to prosper and create new job positions.

Encourage the creation of new products and services, specially small businesses and ateliers.

Figure 3.18 - Source: Author with information of INEGI, 2010. It is of the interest of this key project to propose a new model that generates an attractive economic job offer for economically inactive Mexicans, specially for women that are the largest opportunity group â&#x20AC;&#x201C;as seen on figure 3.17-. The proposal its based on the empowerment of entrepreneurs so they can start their business and provide guidance through the process of economic prosperity for them to grow as company and be able to later provide for a wider and more flexible job offer for the members of its community.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

Percentage of total households that have a women as head of family. Projection

2005

2010

2015

2020

23%

25%

29%

33%

Percentage of women working for their own from the total occupied workforce.

80%

1970

1980

1990

Projection

2005

2010

2015

2020

22%

23%

25%

27%

Percentage of population above 12 years old of women who are not working because they stay at home.

2000

2010

Goal:

2005

2010

2015

2020

23%

24%

29%

20%

What type of business and flexibility does women in this situation could need in order to be part of the economic active population?

2015

% of economic units

Commerce Services Others

Figure 3.19 - Source: Author with information of INEGI, 2015.

Figure 3.20 - Source: Author with information of INEGI, 2015.

Focusing on the main group of opportunity, I analyze that from 2005 until today, the percentage of women who are head of family10 has increased steadily from 23% to 29% -as can

women who work for themselves has become majority in comparison to the women who work for someone else. This can be due to current demands of formal companies becoming unfitting to womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifestyles and compelling women to quite their jobs. Added to the fact that several jobs demand full attention and time availability; therefore, they require a profile that makes women undesirable for jobs as CEOs and other positions of power.

be seen in figure 3.19- and it is expected to continue growing by 2020 to 33%. What does this mean? That if this percentage continues to increase, it will be vital for women to have access to the same labor guarantees as men. Another idea that reinforces the past hypothesis of unequal importunities, is the fact that little by little the group of

If we analyze the tendency of the type of economic units

10_ Head of family is the member that brings the grater ammount of economic support to the household.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

that predominate in the country â&#x20AC;&#x201C;figure 3.20-, it reflects that in 1970 trade and services were part of the minority of economic units in the country, being productive activities of a great scale like agriculture the ones that generate a greater popularity; but, since 2000 there has been a shift in percentages until commerce and services overshadowed any other economic unit -trend that is expected to continue-. The last fact gave a very favorable point for the project, since trade and services are economic units that have flexibility and great diversity of offer and demand, a characteristic that will allow and trigger the process of entrepreneurship and a subsequent growth.

3.4.2 - Access to housing: the relationship between housing demand and offer. After analyzing the development of the housing policies since their first mention in the constitution until the current period we can infer that the main debilities in the system of providing quality housing are: the role of the government in the provision of housing, the restricted way in which we access to housing through mortgage and the relation between the location and quality of housing typology that the programs offer. For the greater understanding of the magnitude of the problem, we must contrast the housing registration and

% 4 2.9% 3

Housing growth rate

1.4%

Population growth rate 1

1950 1960

1960 1970

1970 1980

1980 1990

1990 2000

2000 2010

Figure 3.21 - Source: Author with information from INEGI, 2010. population growth rate information of Mexico (figure 3.21). Since 1980 there has been a larger amount of houses registry in comparison to the amount of population; therefore, we must ask, who is inhabiting this houses and why do they continue not being able to fulfill the housing demand for the Mexican population?. As showed in page 68 and 69, the typology of social housing has remained the same since its first appearances of mass production developments in 1977, however, family structures do have changed remarkably, as seen in figure 3.23 we

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

% can compare the households of nuclear families reduction 100 and compound families and single-tenant households This tendency increment. We could infer that this phenomenon is due of unipersonal homes is 80 to two contrasts, one is the inability of a certain sector expected to continue and of the population to acquire housing and moving in increment, 60 consolidated households of the family transforming a while the nuclear family nuclear family into a compound family; and the singleseams to tenant augmentation is a consequence of the growing offer steadily 40 decrease. for specialized jobs that generate a greater income, but this can only be achieved by a small group that becomes smaller 20 per year. According to INEGI, the percentage of population that earns a number greater than the equivalent of 0 5 minimum salaries has decreased from 5.8% of the 1990 2000 2005 2010 workers on 2016 to 3.2% in 2019’s first trimester (INEGI, Nuclear Family Uni-personal 2019). Expanded Roomates Another interesting subject refers to the need for new offer Family models for housing access – apart from the traditional mortgage social program-. In figure 3.4 we can observe the statistics of house tenure, which illustrates how in 2015 1995 the percentage of housing tenure decreases to 75% of the total households registered in the census because 2000 of the increment in models such as rent. This graphic also communicates that the 10.40% of the households 2005 registered as owned are still in the process of mortgage The average payment; same concept that corresponds to the 10.4% of mexican house is 2010 the total household monthly expenditure in locations composed by 3.2 members, a trend over 2500 inhabitants (INEGI, 2015). Another observation that that continues to should be made is the fact that people that acquire housing 2015 decrease. in 2015 mostly do it through their resources –not with social credit programs or private banks-, valid argument Figure 3.23 - Source: Author with information from INEGI, 2015. in order to deduce that the current supply of housing

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

Tenancy of dwelling

Rent

Others

% 100

Growing demand of diverse tenancy models for housing.

80 60 40 20 0

1990

2000

2010

2015

House accquisition, 2015.

Decile

Equivalency in # of minimum wages

Household value registered

Years required to pay a mortgage*

% of the total social credit benefitiaries

% monthly income spent in rent

251,865

3.3%

61%

1.8

298,861

4.3%

34%

III

2.5

380 601

4.2%

34%

3.1

401 763

4.9%

28%

3.9

472 763

5.2%

26%

4.8

444 188

10.2%

21%

VII

5.9

649 990

4.7%

23%

Owner

10.40% are owned but currently paying mortgage.

Social Program credit

Private loans and credits

Own resources/ other.

VIII

7.5

621 447

2.8%

19%

11%

70%

10.1

741 551

3.4%

17%

18%

13%

69%

24.4

1 363 369

0.7%

15%

*Assigning the 30% of the house income per month Prices are showed in Mexican pesos. The Minimun wage unit in mexico : $73.04 (2016).

Figure 3.24 - Source: Author with information from INEGI, 2015.

Figure 3.25 - Source: Author, Information from CONEVAL, 2018.

and the access offer to house-ownership promoted by governmental programs is decreasing in demand; and thus Mexican government continues to fail in its ability to facilitate the right to access housing –not to mention in his role of provider-.

The most recent study of housing in Mexico is the one made by CONEVAL on 2018 –figure 3.25- where we can appreciate the impact housing has on Mexican groups divided by their income called: Deciles –also by the amount of minimum wage earned per month as a conversion unit-. This classification can also illustrate the years that are required by each

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

3.4.3 - Mobility Infrastructure. Connecting with opportunities and equality. SEDATU11, recognizes mobility as an fair indicator to evaluate inequality in Mexican cities. The conditions of the current policy and morphology of our cities have prioritized the mobility conditions for a small sectors of the population that have greater privileges, such as

x1 000 000

35 Cars

30 25 20 15 10

Motorbikes

5 2016

2010

2000

Passanger Buses

1990

The government needs to support these deciles of the population through the creation and management of a public housing bureau and a fixed price depending on the minimum wages the household earns per month, to improve the quality of life of urban poor families through housing access.

Registered Units

1980

decile to pay a mortgage –if assigning 30% of their total monthly income to mortgage- or if they are incapable of accessing a housing credit, approximately how much percentage of their monthly wage its to be used to pay rent. If you spend more than 30% of your wage in housing, you are considered as urban poor, according to CONEVAL; therefore, the issue couldn’t be clearer, we have a large percentage of the population which is unable to access housing credits and uses more than 30% of their salaries to cover the alternative offer, which is private rents.

Figure 3.26 - Source: Author, information from SEDATU , 2017.

access to a private vehicle. One of the main problematic of mobility in our cities is the on-growing vehicle fleet –as can be appreciated on figure 3.26-, the lack of access to public transport offer and the quality and duration of out daily commuting. According to the CONEVAL’s data, 15.7% of the population spends more than 60 minutes in their daily commute to work, a consequence of the current expansion-oriented model of city planning in Mexican cities. As can be shown

11_ Acronym for The Rural, Urban and Territorial Development Secretary of Mexico.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

only 09% of the projects were meant to promote alternative modal share systems.

Urban surface growth rates Population growth rates

Population growth rate needed to justify the current urban surface growth

% 1.50 1.00 0.50 0

Registered growth rate.

Colective transport infrastructure 02%

Estimation of growth needed following statistics from CENEVAL

Registered growth rate.

Pedestrian oriented infrastructure 07%

Infrastructure of public services access 40% Car oriented infrastructure 51%

Figure 3.27 - Source: Author, information from CONEVAL, 2018. Figure 3.28 - Source: Author, information from SEDATU, 2017.

in figure 3.27, the registered population growth rate in 2010 was of 0.25%, while the urban surface growth rate was of 1.25%; according to CONEVAL, the urban surface growth needed to supply the population growth rate was of .18%; 1.07% less than registered. This 1.07%, makes evident the unnecessary expansion of urban areas; therefore longer commuting distances and duration. Modal share in Mexico has always linked to the ideal of prosperity -similar to the one of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;American suburbâ&#x20AC;?- which

is based on a classicist idea of the car as a representation of acquisitive superiority, and therefore, worthy of greater guarantees in respect of the other users of the public space; this group is only composed of 30% of the population that owns a private vehicle (SEDATU,2017). The other 70% users of the public space are composed of the ones who commute using alternative modal shares such as collective transport systems, bicycle or travel by foot. If we compare the units of registered public projects

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

under the mobility budget in the 2013-2017 period12 (figure 3.28), can be affirmed that only 9% of the projects were carried out with the purpose of offering a better quality offer in the modalities of displacement that are not cars; such as public squares, parks, interventions in historic centers, restoration of sidewalks, cycle routes, equipment for public transport system, etc.

This means that even though Mexico intends to reverse this trend, the attention remains located in the promotion of vehicle acquisition, as well as the budget. Of the total national budget destined to mobility, 74% was directed towards roads or car-oriented, leaving only 20.89% for public space, pedestrian, cyclist and collective transport infrastructure. pedestrian, cyclist and collective transport infrastructure. Is the intention of this project to use different scales of mobility to promote not only access to transport systems but to consolidate a neighborhood scale quality that allows performing daily productive and reproductive activities to all the neighbors. This should be reflected in the quality of the journeys, based on the perception of safety and universal access for all the users of the public space. The concept of safety for Mexican cities goes beyond the perception of criminality on a certain space – based on spatial parameters such as housing abandonment, urban voids, and lack of light-, but to safety. Safety on public space has been declared a national public

Causes of death registered by frequency Age Group

1º

2º

3º

0 to 4

Congenital malformations

Influenza and pneumonia

5 to 14

Malignant tumors

Congenital malformations

15 to 24

Agressions

Self-inflicted injuries

25 to 34

Agressions

Malignant tumors

35 to 44

Agressions

Malignant tumors

45 to 64

Diabetes

Malignant tumors

Heart diseases

65+

Heart diseases

Diabetes

Malignant tumors

Figure 3.29 - Source: Author, information from INEGI, 2017.

health problem by the National Health Secretary on its report of 2017 (SALUD, 2017). This alarm was raised due to the INEGI’s registry of causes of death frequencies which affirms that the most frequent cause of death on kids and young adults (from 0 to 14 years) are road accidents- and it continues to be one of the top 5 for other age groups as can be seen in figure 3.29 (INEGI, 2017). If our streets are not providing either quantity nor

12_ Equivalent of the last registered presidential period information.

The Right to Access Housing: Provided as a Product, Not a Service.

From every 10 registered deaths caused by transit accidents in Mexico (2016)....

Were hit by a vehicle

Figure 3.29 - Source: Author, information from SALUD, 2017.

quality in the public space for the most vulnerable population group - constituted mostly by the ones that donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have access to a private vehicle - is later reflected on the life quality of the urban poor. One example of this can be the fact that of every 10 Mexicans that die due to a transit accident, 5 were victims of an irresponsible vehicle driver; same death that will have enormous economic implications on the family and can even transcend into eviction and the loss of their housing right.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

3.5 -

Conclusions.

The purpose of this chapter was the aknowledgement of our universal right to housing, and the importance of this right to achieve many others; continuing with the subtraction of the concept to a more national scale. I attempt to understand the role that the Mexican government plays in the promotion and execution of this right –compared with others as health access and education-, coming to the conclusion that our right to housing is offered as a product and not a service. The next part was historical analysis –the most complex part of the thesis due to lack of information and the constant relation of policies with economic, social, environmental and other different topics-. At the end of this journey through history, I found the breaking point of social housing development at the beginning of the ’70s when INFONAVIT was founded and the social housing offer was completely delegated to private companies, without any restrictions, but the contrary. Since then, the state has stared at the housing problem as if it was only a financial nature problem. It wasn’t until the housing abandonment crisis started in 2000 when the government realized the economic and social problems derived from mass production of housing without any consideration of location and quality. Added to its role as credit facilitator, the state started to evaluate and supervise the quality of life and perception of

neighborhoods, and have been doing so since then. Several attempts have been made through SEDATU, INFONAVIT, SEDESOL, CONAVI and many other secretaries through the implementation of programs and one-time economic supports; but they continue to fail due to change of interest in the political agenda, lack of budget, lack of interest and lack of vision.

My hypothesis is that these phenomena are due to the fact that the existing programs to fight poverty are mainly concentrated in fixing rural settlements, therefore the percentage of rural poor neighborhoods have decreased, while urban poor neighborhoods have augmented. If policies continue to perceive poverty as an isolated matter, there will be no hope for this to end. Therefore the historical analysis was studied and analyzed through a multidimensional approach and in doing so we were able to identify the current problematics and see them as a complex problem and not an isolated matter. This relevant topics, which are: economy, housing offer, mobility, equity and more, are easy to identify in a municipal scale through map analysis and a layered approach, a dynamic that corroborates the existence of this problematics in the municipality and the relation between urban poor neighborhoods and the city as will be illustrated in next chapters.

Key Projects

Transforming urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee quality social housing

5 Pilot Project: Guaranteeing Quality for Social Housing in Guadalajara.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

4.1 -

Introduction.

Understanding poverty as a multidimensional character and following the trends and goals reviewed on the previous chapter guidelines, this thesis aims to propose a series of changes in the current typology of social housing –that is most often located in urban poor neighborhoods-. This process will be catalyzed by governmental programs, community participation, and punctual infrastructure -working simultaneously- in order to reverse the cycle of poverty in this communities and transform urban poor housing complexes into prospering quality neighborhoods.

4.2 -

The strategic tools for key projects implementation.

In order to create an effective strategy that promotes quality housing –like the one established in the 1917th constitution as a fundamental right for all Mexicans-, I decided to begin by establishing the main characteristics that could define “quality” for the purposes of this thesis based on the current trends and needs. To commence the selection of quality characteristics, the main values for the project were chosen: wellbeing, identity and community. Wellbeing encompasses the

economic and social characteristics needed to prosper through services and infrastructure; Identity and community –even though it’s the most ambiguous topic- adds to the formula a strong component which allows social network and a larger possibility of a long-term approach based on empowering communities. This values -when filtered by scale-, highlights the reach that each of them has and at the same time, a strong spatial intention for specific characteristics, as can be seen in the figure 4.1. At the same time, the exercise started to divide the quality characteristics into two groups: the objective and the subjective ones. The objective characteristics can be achieved through hard infrastructure projects like the creation of a physical space, they are able to catalyze strong and specific processes; The subjective characteristics developed as projects, are called soft infrastructure and are particularly relevant in terms of promotion of social cohesion/ integration, community participation and generation of identity.

Hard infrastructure projects can be used to generate a strong first approach to the communities – the catalyzer- and, when it is followed and complemented by a softinfrastructure project, the effect multiplies and continues, providing the beneficiaries of the hard-infrastructure with identity, participation and social cohesion for a long term.

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing.

What to transform?

Scale

How?

Character Dwelling

Production and reproduction activities.

House Unit

Neighborhood

City and Metropolis

Wellbeing

Access to jobs, education, health services and mobility and other small scale-public services.

Residential

Specialized public/private services, diversity of options and knowledge.

Urban

Identity and Community

Key Projects

Availability of personal time and flexibility of spaces.

The new role for stay-at-home women and men in urban poor neighborhoods.

Participation, identity and social cohesion.

New models of housing offer and the promotion of density.

Social networks.

Connecting to oportunities through .

When?

Community empowerment Economic prosperity Quality Housing

Hard infrastructure Spatial Catalyzer project

Hard infrastructure + Soft Infrastructure projects Social Cohesion Identity Participation

Long term effect Give continuity to the project without dependence on governmental support.

Figure 4.1 - Source: Author

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

4.3 -

The new role for stay-at-home and unemployed women and men in urban poor neighborhoods.

The trigger project of this thesis is based on the encouragement of the economically inactive population within the urban poor areas so they can prosper economically and, in doing so, be able to offer a greater amount of job opportunities to the other members of the community. To illustrate this project, I will use the example of two inactive women of different ages and for different reasons, so there can be an interpretation of the reach and variety of options that this project offers.

she graduated with honors from the technical degree of fashion design, becoming a certified and talented seamstress. The day after graduation she was encouraged to apply to the second step of the social program called “economic prosper neighborhoods”, which is based on the request of a governmental economic support - half credit and half lost fund-. This benefit is granted to all the participants who have excelled in the training center and present a feasible business model1. Thanks to the “economic prosper neighborhoods” loan, Mrs. Alicia was able to set up a workshop at home which works both as a reproductive area and a productive area2 depending on the time of the day.

The capacitation and education facility is located on the “Benito Juarez” elementary school building. This space was only used in the morning and the program decided to enable it in the afternoons as a community center for activities like capacitation, education, discussion, and representation.

With much determination, Mrs. Alicia continued to increase her clientele and she felt the need to enlarge the space and hire more seamstress; therefore, applied to “economic prosper neighborhoods 2.0”, which facilitated her to generate an INFONAVIT –house enlargement or renovation- loan for her house and successfully changed the land use of her house from residential to mix-use –a characteristic that highly increases the value of her land and allows her greater density and flexibility of space-. Regarding the work team that she needed, part of the conditions of the program are that 30% of the total workforce of the business applying has to live less than 1 km away from the workshop and has to be an active member of the community3; this way, it not only encourages economic prosperity to Mrs. Alicia but all the community.

Mrs. Alicia was enrolled in the program, and after 6 months

On the other side, Mrs. Alejandra is 38 years old but has

1_ The creation of a business model is assessed by certified team members of the program.

and reproductive tasks are the ones we develop to preserve our life’s like: cooking, sleeping,

2_ Productive tasks are the ones we use to generate some kind of economical remuneration

exercising and more.

Mrs. Alicia, is 59 years old and has been economically inactive since she was pensioned 9 years ago, but the money she receives from the pension is not enough to support her grandson who is currently focused on his studies; Therefore, Mrs. Alicia decides to apply to the community training center to study something that has always passionate her: fashion design.

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing. Empowered Community 4) ra (3 – stay nd

Economic prosperity and greater job offer

ome mom t-h – -a

cial Pro So

– lives w ith ior en

tructur ras

Al Ms. icia (5

ity un

Inf

ensioned –p s 9)

Mrs. Ale ja

Comm

Flexible and Quality Housing An organized community its able to identify and demand infrastructure and other services that they are in right to.

ndson gra

m gra

ily of four . fam

Consolidated community board who has legal power over the residents and administrates the public areas and promotes dialogue and community participation .

A greater offer of jobs in different areas and services inside the neighborhood.

Link between big companies who need outsourcing of some services and products.

Constant evaluation and promotion.

1 *

4 Cap a

cita

tio n/

edu

cat i

on fac ilit

Event management and maintenance of parks and other public spaces. Program enrolled have to participate in a monthly tianguis, a showroom and sale of their products/ services and give identity to the community.

Implementation period in years

orh oo ds ca l e

igh b

Economic prosperity for economically inactive population in urban poor neighborhoods.

Everybody has the right to have a recreational open space in a 1km radius, if the community doesn’t have one, the municipality must provide it. An option could be a linear park using one line of the current street.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

House Unit.

Configuration and Type of Productive area.

40 m2 Minimum residential area

17 m2 - Private areas 23 m2 - Public areas 23 m2 - Patio area

GF 40 m2 - Commercial space 1F 40 m2 - Minimum residential area

0.80

1.20

4.00

0.80

1.20

4.00

0.80

1.20

4.00

Generic Example

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing. General Description.

Harness the 5 m2 second bedroom to create small neighborhood ateliers, workshops and services such as seamstress, cobbler, kitchen and electric appliances repairer.

Transforming the public areas of the house into shared productive activities that involve a transformation of raw materials and a commercialization or posterior service such as restaurants and food entrepreneurs. The patio area can work as a flexible showroom or terrace. The space can be used by the owner of the house or be rented for specific purposes by neighbors or family.

In this scenario the house owner can transform the ground floor into a productive space where many services, workshops and all kind of neighborhood commercial activities can be offered. This can be used by the owner to enlarge its current business or can be rented for other members of the community. Some of the examples include: day care for children, convenient stores, hairdressers and more.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

been economically inactive since the first of her two children was born -4 years ago-. She stayed home in order to take care of both boys while Mr. Rodrigo works 50 minutes away from home and uses the only vehicle available in the house; but, lately the money hasn’t been enough to cover all the needs of the family and Mrs. Alejandra decides to enroll in the capacitation center, in order to certify the knowledge of her favorite hobby: baking. After graduating from the technical degree of culinary arts and nutrition she decided to expand the business to provide a greater offer of products and after analyzing her case, the social program staff decided that her business model was strong enough to access to the “economic prosper neighborhood 2.0” which facilitated INFONAVIT credit to enlarge her house and the free change of land use for her house to mix-use.

This remuneration is administrated and voted to be invested in the community public space maintenance and the development of recreational activities as the “neighborhood parties” and more. By transforming a monotonously residential urban poor community into a diverse economically prosper neighborhood through the leadership of entrepreneur and compromised residents, we catalyze a sense of identity and interest, same that will later translate into organization and participation. By empowering residents to administrate funds and baking it up through a governmental social program that is based on retribution and generation of the economy is key in order to turn a punctual social program into a long term social network, same that is most likely to break the circle of poverty and continue developing and prospering, hopefully attracting more investment and more density.

What started as a window display of 3 variety of pieces of bread, turned out to a successful bakery that is now a gathering point for the neighbors afternoon coffee and usually hostess some of the community board reunions. She was able to spend time with her family and still be able to be economically active. Both Ms. Alicia and Mrs. Alejandra are compelled by the social program –but passionate by choice- to be part of the community board that manages the events of the neighborhood, such as the monthly tianguis4, showrooms, presentations, Zumba classes and the use of parklets5, same activities that are granted by an economic remuneration.

3_ Being an active member of the community is to be part of the community board, a regis-

4_ A tianguis, is a Mexican informal sale that usually happens one day of the week

tered civil association that manages the development of the neighborhood.

depending on the neighborhood. Some are really famous and people travel in order to see

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing.

Figure 4.4 Ilustrative image of houses participating in the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Economic Prosper Neighborhodâ&#x20AC;? 1 and 2. Source: Author

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

4.3 -

New models of housing offer and the promotion of density.

The catalyzer of this project will be a law issued from the municipality that will establish that every urban void in these polygons of intervention –selected urban poor neighborhoods- will be sanctioned every two months with an economic fee (valued depending on the respective m2 of the plot) and this action will be supervised by the community board. The owner of the respective plot would have two options, either he decides to sell the plot –and will have a 3 months grace period- or he enrolls the plot in the “Transforming Urban Voids into productive areas” governmental social program.

Figure 4.5 - Abandoned Social Housing in Juarez, Mexico. Source: IQ Latino, 2018

This program will allow neighbors to rent this plots and transform them into transitional spaces of work, green areas, food truck parking or any installation that doesn’t require construction or causes permanent damage in the plot. All the projects will be supervised and agreed by the members of the community board, the plot owner and the interested neighbor. Every contract will establish that in order to terminate the agreement the plot owner should inform the board members and the interested neighbor with 3 months of advance, and at the end of this period the interested neighbor should return the plot as found. The owner of the plot next to Mr. Rodriguez just enrolled the

Figure 4.6 - Abandoned Social Housing in Mexico. Source: Animal Político, 2019

them such as the flower tianguis in Santa Maria neighborhood on Tuesdays on Guadalajara,

6_ INFONAVIT it’s the national funds institute for workers housing, mentioned in previous

Mexico.

chapters as the main provider of economic housing mortgage credit. SEDATU is the secretary

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing.

plot in the program in order for it to be cleaned out and taken care of while he has enough savings to build up his house; therefore, Mr. Rodriguez took the opportunity to apply to the: “transforming urban voids into productive areas into productive areas “program in his community. He proposes to use the plot to park the food truck he is planning to buy for his business expansion and complement it with a terrace where people can sit and eat. He wants to make a more confortable place to attrack a higher demand of clients. Letting this rent spaces to semi-formal businesses can be very convenient for the community as they often work the night shift, providing an active façade for the street and make pedestrian areas safer; also by registering the semi-formal businesses they can be legalized and even transformed into legal businesses which gives them benefits such as social security number and housing credit. Following the general project chronology of prospering economy and a greater job offer, followed by the transformation of the existing urban voids – which provide a perception of insecurity and abandonment to the neighborhood-, I propose that by this point it will be highly convenient to develop a densification social program for the area. This program has to be developed hand-by-hand with INFONAVIT and SEDATU6 reinforcing the idea of flexible and economic housing right provision. It can be offered in

different modalities such as rent, cooperatives, and sale. The structure of the program will evaluate the dwellings and plots that are perceived as more convenient for density promotion, following parameters such as availability, location, TOD7, construction status and more. Selected homes will have the opportunity to participate in the second phase of the program in which a contest for an architectural project will be organized. This contest will evaluate the project based on the promotion of the values of flexibility, universal accessibility, equity, sustainability, and aesthetics. Parallel to the physical design of the project a business plan should be elaborated between the landowner and the municipality, in this agreement the owner will choose the percentage of his participation which can vary according to the project. This housing offer can be enlisted for the social housing bureau, which will enable access to acquisition through mortgage programs, social rent program, cooperatives and more through INFONAVIT, SEDESO and other secretaries from the municipality and the state. The landowner will always be benefited with the possibility of obtaining an economic benefit from his participation as an investor or -in other case- will exchange the rights of the plots from individual to condominium8 for a discount and/or a housing credit access to acquire an apartment in the same project or other variations that can be agreed through negotiation, depending on the size and convenience of the plot.

of rural, territorial and urban development, which also has a fund for housing development

Photoshop donde se vea un barrio densificado.... 7_ lLegal term that allowes the same plot to be owned by two or more people.

for marginal neighborhoods.

8_ Transit Oriented Development is based on the densification of polygons that have access

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

Figure 4.7 Ilustrative image of a neighborhood participating in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Transforming Urban Voids into productive areasâ&#x20AC;? program. Source: Author

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing. Comm

z ue

House Unit

Evalue the plot for qualities such as availability, access to services, access to jobs, TOD, construction status and more

cial Pro So

Access to the park, located in front of main avenue, inside the project polygon, next to an abandoned plot which will be transformed, etc.

m gra

Abandoned Plots Proposal: Transforming Urban Voids into productive areas.

Proposal: Transforming Urban Voids into productive areas.

igh b

Architectural Contest Values: flexibility, universal accessibility, equity, sustainability, and aesthetics

orh oo ds ca l e

Business Plan Agreement

Ilustrative example of variety desired.

Plot enrollment

_ Submission of proposal to the board and to the plot owner _ Agreement and sign of contract

Before

Community empowerment for decision and participation to decide, penalize and administration of public budget.

Community participation in decision making. Selection of project and the aproval of rent program candidates.

Development of semi-public areas in top of the building and renovation of public areas in relationship with the street. A) Social rent program

Legalizing and being able to assess former irregular jobs can translate into a more efficient tax collection that can later be transformed into neighborhood investment - possibily infrastructure-.

Cooperative for two single moms sharing productive areas B) Flexible and quality housing

3 After

Promotion of the neighborhood values through the existing programs of economic prosperity and community participation for the new residents.

Access to quality housing through INFONAVIT mortage credits.

Licitation and construction of the project

“Every urban void in these polygons of intervention –selected urban poor neighborhoods- will be sanctioned with an economic fee”

Mrs. Valdez gets to keep her house in exchange for the conversion from single ownership to condominium and further transformation of the of the plot.

Empowered Community Flexible and Quality Housing Wellbeing

* According to the Mexican

construction laws, the maximum high allowed to be constructed without an elevator installation its 12m; therefore, the average project will have 4 stories and a common space on the top of the building.

Implementation period in years

tructur ras

z de

The V al

The Rodr ig

ity un Inf

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

The promotion of a social housing bureau for rent from the municipality will represent a great breakthrough in terms of the exercise of our right to a quality housing for everyone that is not currently enrolled in a legal job or doesn’t have the social benefits that include access to INFONAVIT’s mortgage credits; but also to young adults who aren’t looking for the traditional housing model and demand a transitional dwelling to live.

To enroll to the social housing rent program in these communities, the participant will have to represent the values of the community, which are economic wellbeing and community participation –all this evaluated by the community board and governmental staff-. Another element that can be added to the social housing municipality bureau could be the abandoned houses, dwellings that are fully constructed but haven’t had a resident in more than 1 year. Using the same model as the “Transforming urban voids into productive areas program”, the house owner will have the decision of enrolling the house in the social rental program or having to inhabit it with a grace period of 3 months. If he doesn’t show interest or prefers to leave the house abandoned, he will have to pay an economic of penalty –based on the physical state of the house, m2 and time that has been abandoned-. Same penalty that will feed the municipal budget to maintain this area clean and can also be used for the construction of the new density housing developments.

to massive transport systems of mobility.

4.4 -

Connecting new centralities to the city. Using mobility to catalyze oportunity.

Having already developed new economic nodes that provide an extensive job offer and prosper economy, followed by the densification of the intervention urban poor polygon transforming its urban voids and abandoned houses into generators of economy and providing a greater and diverse housing offer that can be accessed through the new “municipal bureau of social housing rental program” or through traditional mortgage credits for workers that are allowed to INFONAVIT’s programs; the community has to take the next step. The step to follow will be divided into two scales: neighborhood and municipal and/or metropolitan. Acknowledging the land use to mix-use and the increament in density, it is proposed to continue promoting neighborhood life through a compact community. The project “connecting to opportunities through mobility infrastructure” is based on the need for alternative systems of mobility than the automobile within the neighborhood9. This can be achieved through the implementation of infrastructures such as cycle roads, bus stops and pedestrian spaces that are perceived as comfortable, accessible and safe. There is a wide range of projects that can be done to reverse the current design of the street and public spaces

ing according to IMEPLAN Guadalajara, Mexico. (IMEPLAN, 2017).

9_ Taking into account 1 km as a distance that can be comfortably done by bicycle or walk-

Transforming social housing in urban poor neighborhoods to guarantee their right to quality housing.

following the new pyramid of mobility (figure 4.9), they all depend on the duration required and budget availability. Investment at neighborhood scale can be financed by the funds generated through the fines of abandoned plots and houses, as well as the municipal (tax collection budget) support. The second scale â&#x20AC;&#x201C;municipal and metropolitanencompasses issues of public administration and policies, as well as bigger infrastructure development investment. In this scale, modifications will be proposed for the current massive transport systems available that have an impact on the intervention polygon â&#x20AC;&#x201C; on the reach of approximately 1km9-; if a massive transport system is absent, it will be necessary to create a link between the nearest mass transit stop and a strategic point in the polygon. It is very important to develop the project using this two scales, due to the fact that for the interest of this thesis, to guarantee vulnerable population of urban poor neighborhoods their right to mobility as priority scale; added to the fact that because of political law structure transport infrastructure can only be defined and managed through state secretaries and their funds. At this point we will understand the importance of a cohesive and empowered community represented legally by a board of members, because they have a legal authority to demand their right for efficient mobility to the state, which makes the petition stronger and more likely to be heard and granted.

Figure 4.9 - Mobility Piramid Proposal. Source: ITDP, 2019

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

Community raton Zeb

Acc e

Municipality

of par kin tion ibi

House Uni t Sc ale

a ility r mps sib

reas ga

Pro h

e free st hicl re Ve

for hours ets

t of sidewa l en

Bike R oa

Pa r

ts program kle

- Budget

Neighb orho od S cale

Improv em

program ng

Ne i

a bor c r-pool i gh

Figure 4.10 - Tactical urbanism, programs and infrastructure that can be generated through each scale and its characteristics. Source: Author

Urban Scale

Program

Infrastructure

kmxh stre 20 e

s stops Bu

ds roa

Pub

S Bike ystem lic

Multi m

twork t ne or

Multimod

National

al Circuit

tation al S od

Roa d

ety program saf

Sha re

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ective transp oll

Rec o

State

30 a nd

Law

Budget +

100

What Does The Constitutional Right to Housing Means In Mexico?

Lack of acces sib

Int e

Unsafe cro s

r pedestrians g fo sin

ed vision mpt rru

The wider a street is, allows car to go faster.

y ilit

Wide and continuous sidewalk

Accessible bus stop

Exclusive bus lane

Exclusive bike la

Ramps

Values

Accessible

Multi-modal

Safe and Inclussive

Pedestrian Friendly

Figure 4.11 and 4.12 - Tactical urbanism, programs and infrastructure that can be generated through each scale and its characteristics. Source: Author

101

(Corona, L. 2000)

Adapting key projects into a municipality scale

case study of Guadalajara, Mexico and further study.

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.1 -

Inventory of a larger scale project and its implications in matter of federal and state urban policy development.

The importance of creating a thesis in a national level was developed by the need of guidance – after 1 year without a national development plan- and the uncertainty that comes from the election of a new party –which represents new values and new criteria for Mexican policies and the lack of continuity of previous programs-. I decided to use a national scale, that even though it represented a challenge for my analysis method due to the lack of tools to make a national analysis map that could represent the municipal scale that I was aiming for; therefore I decided to reconfigure my analysis capacities and transform statistical data and historical analysis into tools that could communicate the relevance and chronology of my project. By communicating a problem that affects 80% of the Mexican population without adding a specific municipality this thesis became a tool to represent the identities, weaknesses, challenges, strengths, opportunities and threats of the urban poor areas of every municipality of the country and encourage a relationship between urban poverty and access to social housing as an attempt to spatialize the social, demographic, economic and environmental concepts that were identified as issues.

Through the analysis of social housing and urban policies this thesis led me to the path of historical and political research of Mexico, information that had to be reinterpreted as urban morphology and housing typology to understand the repercussions each had in terms of space and how there were not the architects that developed the Mexican cities, but the government and the greedy land developers. This sighting was also presented before the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, which offered me the possibility to develop a doctorate project, which will be oriented towards the visualization of the impact of public policies and programs in our cities. The next step for this strategy will be the generation of a project based on the specific needs of the municipality of Guadalajara, using this thesis as a master key to develop the investigation through map analysis of Guadalajara’s metropolitan area, but using the same concepts of urban poverty, margined areas, access to services, housing typology, mobility, plus the socio-demographical characteristics such as location of households that have women as head of family and economical characteristics such as location of the economically inactive population, location of the workers that earn the minimum wage and more. I think that the time in which I configurated the thesis was highly synchronized to my enrollment in the Ahome Municipality Planning Institute, which opened my eyes to public policy and how they can become a helpful tool when projecting for long term; what I wanted to produce at

104

Case study of Guadalajara, Mexico and further research.

the end, was a thesis that Mexicans could feel identified with and it could communicate the relevance and magnitude of the quality social housing access problem;

what started with a desire to project, ended as a commitment to communicate and create a project with an impact that lasted, that goes beyond a 3 years period of the municipal president, that transcends and transforms an urban poor area into an economically prosper, compact and accessible neighborhood that feels empowered and has a decision and legal participation in the transformation of the city.

Mexico Federal

Jalisco State

Â To conclude, I hope this research will illustrate all those who are thirsty to understand the reasons for our current state in terms of housing access, and spirited, identify the poor urban areas in their municipality and propose the suggested policies and programs by integrating the character of the territory, the identity of the community, and the values they are identified for.Â Â There will never be a perfect formula, this thesis is far from promoting a single solution, but if there was... I think it could be the development of a project that legally empowers the community and makes them aware of of their needs and compromissed with the growth and prosperity of its neighborhood.

Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara Metropolitan

Guadalajara Municipality

Figure 5.1 Source: IMEPLAN, 2016 and Author. Location and relevant information about the MAG

105

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.2 -

Why Guadalajara, Mexico?

Mexico occupies two positions in the rank of the 10th cities with a greater population in Latin America (figure 5.1). Currently, 80.7% of the Mexican population lives in urban areas and the UN is expecting a growth of 88.2% by 2050 accompanied by the increase of 80% to 100% of urban area in the country (figure 5.2). According to the data of OCDE showed previously in figure 1.4 (page 14), Guadalajara was 2Âş in the ranking of Mexican cities with a larger percentage of growth further than 10 km from city centers. This facts make it highly vulnerable to continue its expansion, tendency that illustrates the fact that secondary cities such as Guadalajara are the ones with the higher risk of urban expansion, and therefore it raises an alarm to the corresponding governmental directions to take strong actions against urban poverty.

Urban poverty has made itself evident as the population augments and the urban area expands. According to the records of COEPO on 2005 the 68.2% of urban population lived in a high or very high situation of marginalization, and it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change in 2010, it remained steady and located in the borders between the main municipality of Guadalajara and the conurbated municipalities (COEPO,2010). Therefore I conclude that this metropolitan area is highly vulnerable to augment its percentage of the urban population in poverty if it continues the current model of growth and periphery housing development.

A quality that makes this case study a very hopeful candidate for the thesis program is its metropolitan division and political management. As a metropolitan area, you have law and desision power between over the other municipalities that integrate it -which has almost the same authority or more as the state level of governance-. Making decisions through its IMEPLAN direction; which, coordinates effords to guide the metropolitan area into a same goal of development by the use of its legal tools and a direct state budget.

1 _ Ciudad de MĂŠxico, Mexico

22 462 000

2 _ Sao Paulo, Brasil

21 600 000

3 _ Buenos Aires, Argentina

15 180 428

4 _ Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

11 977 035

5 _ Lima, Peru

11 487 000

6 _ Bogota, Colombia

10 548 588

7 _ Santiago de Chile

7 036 792

8 _ Belo Horizonte, Brasil

4 829 435

9 _ Guatemala, Guatemala

4 703 865

10 _ Guadalajara, Mexico

4 434 252

11 _ Monterrey, Mexico

4 138 077

12 _ Porto Alegre, Brasil

3 889 850

The most populated metropolitan areas in Latin America with 2015 official census.

Figure 5.1 Source: IMEPLAN, 2015. Inhabitants per metropolitan areas of Latin America.

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Case study of Guadalajara, Mexico and further research.

1970

1990

City Population 10 Million 5 to 10 Million 1 to 5 Million

2014

Percentage of Urban Area

2030 Guadalajara

80 - 100% 60 - 80% 40 - 60% 20 - 40%

Figure 5.2 Source: UN, 2018. This figure ilustrates the growth of capitals of each latin american country and the importance of secondary cities as they are projected to grow exponentially.

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SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.3 -

Scopes

Level of Governance

Action

Intermediary

Research and position the relationship with urban poverty and housing access as a main element.

Mexico Federal

National plan of development 2019-2024

Turn the topic of urban poverty and housing access into a main importance project development topic for institutes and secretaries.

Secretary of Agrarian, Territorial and Urban Development

Tools

Promotion, budget and programs orientation.

Municipal Legal control and distribution of resources for housing and mobility infrastructure. Promote licitations for the main cities to candidate through the analysis of their current social housing demands and urban poverty percentage.

Create social programs with the purpose of eradicating urban poverty and promote variety of quality social housing access.

Develop a spatial analysis of their main issues related to the topic

Jalisco State Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara Metropolitan

Guadalajara Municipality

Promotion of citizen participation and forums for social housing developers and real state businesses.

Coordinate efforts of the different secretaries and directions, stakeholders and law implementation.

Access to the technical and financial support of SEDATUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program.

Identify catalyzer urban poor neighborhoods to develop projects.

Implementation of programs with specific needs and identity.

State and Municipal Directions Community

Entrepreneurs

Civil Associations

Academia

Project development and access to social programs.

Access to municipal tax collection funds

Figure 5.3 Source: Author.

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Case study of Guadalajara, Mexico and further research.

5.4 -

First Approach Metropolitan Area Of Guadalajara (MAG)

Inhabitants

Surface

Occupied Surface of Settlements

Density

4 676 100

2 734 Km2

628 Km2

7 446 Inhab/Km2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

4 3 5

8 9

Guadalajara Inhabitants

Zapopan

Tlaquepaque

Guadalajara Zapopan San Pedro Tlaquepaque Tonalá Tlajomulco de Zúñiga El Salto Zapotlanejo Juanacatlán Ixtlahuatlan de los Membrillos

Tonalá

Tlajomulco

El Salto

1 600 940

1 155 790

563 006

408 729

220 630

111 436

Surface

150

893

270

119

636

Occupied Surface of Settlements

139

209

103

92%

23%

32%

40%

16%

92%

11 517

5 530

6 325

8 515

2 142

2 932

Km2

Km2 %

Density

Inhabitants/Km2

Figure 5.4 Author, Source: IMEPLAN, 2015.

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M01_ Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico. IMEPLAN, 2016.

2.5

10 15 Guadalajara 20 Forografia de

110

Kilometers

M02_ Study Area IMEPLAN, 2016.

111

M03_Natural Infrastructure IMEPLAN,2016

M02_ Study Area

0 .5

M04_ Productive Infrastructure INEGI,2010 & IMEPLAN, 2016

0 .5

M05_ Household offer and demand INEGI,2010

0 .5

M06_ Economic Units INEGI,2010

0 .5

KM KM

M06_ Urban Poor/Marginated areas IMEPLAN, 2016.

0 .5

KM KM

M07_ Access to Public Services IMEPLAN, 2016.

0 .5

KM KM

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.5_M08 - SWOT: Strengths and opportunities of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expansion. In this analysis, I wanted to find a way to connect areas that had great access to public services and the margined poor urban areas, as well as for the neighborhoods that have more than 50% of their plots abandoned. After adding the layer of massive transport system1 and its stations and the public bus routes, the map began to create a network by relating some of the stations or routes with urban poor areas and creating interesting thresholds between them. Another interesting connection between these meeting points is this linear path of green recreational areas and commerce and services2.

corridors to small scale/pedestrian friendly areas will not only benefit local entrepreneurs and small business, but also the corridor transformation will catalyze commercial mixed offer and the constant transit of people through the day. Providing secure areas for neighbors to perform their daily activities in a local scale, and the possibility of accessing other specific cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s services through the closest station improves their quality of life, promotes equality, freedom of mobility, meeting points for encounter; and therefore, the creation of a cohesive community, as well as other values that are now lacking in urban poor neighborhoods.

Because of the threats of urban poverty and household abandonment continue to increase in peripheral areas, networks have to be created. Efficient and accessible transport hubs can perform as a powerful plug to access the city center and the commercial and services corridor can be a catalyzer for the economy in a local scale.

Configuring the existent commerce and service

1_The metro line that goes from the northwest to the south-east is still under construction,

2_land use orientation of the plot. Zonification by IMEPLAN, 2016.

and supposedly be finished by 2022.

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KM 0 .5

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.6_M09 - SWOT: Threats of a caroriented city. This map could be the inverse of the connection network, by showing the barriers that the city has weaved through layers.The first two highway rings were planned in order to create a fluent connection between the industrial area and the city center; dividing the city in big plots; but as soon as we pass the third highway ring, we start to identify a series of fragmented pieces constantly divided by industrial areas, railroads, and highways. The far you are from the city center, the smaller the fragments become, and some of them lack of a crossing path.

If you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have a car and live in one of these neighborhoods, how are you supposed to move?. The yellow strokes are the neighborhoods with more than 50% of their plots abandoned. Most of these abandoned complexes in the periphery of Guadalajara are located in the center of fragmented areas surrounded by aggressive boundaries. I infer that there is a relationship between the abandonment and the isolation of these complexes, the majority of housing offered in this type of locations used to be â&#x20AC;&#x153;ejido landsâ&#x20AC;?3, offered as social housing

of a low price and the lowest quality. People acquired them to fulfill their prosperity ideal of housing ownership, but as soon as they resided there without access to services and isolated from the city, they decided to return to the city and access any other type of housing offer that fit their budget. Another situation of housing developments in this locations is the progresive area augmentation of closed housing complexes, surrounded by a 3-4 m high barriers of controlled security gates which and you can only access with a vehicle. These typologies are often offered for a medium/high-class market but are starting to become a representative demand for every housing development range in terms of security. Both characteristics: borders and location, far from promoting a local community and security infrastructure, continue to develop a sense of isolation and inequality between the members of a neighborhood, as well as it affects the economy of the country in terms of productiveness.

3_ Hectares of commonal agricultural land that were distributed to farmers and rural inhabitants on the Agrarian reform in 1915; same land they sold to privates (INEGI, 1994).

120

KM 0 .5

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.7_M10 - SWOT: Weaknesses and opportunities for equity. This map illustrates the relationship between the areas with poor access to public services and the location of poor urban neighborhoods4 ; Neighborhoods with less access to public services are the ones with higher levels of poverty; in contrast with the areas that have the highest level of wealth, which are mostly located in the areas closer to public services. Another fact found in this map is car ownership. An average household in Guadalajara owns 2 cars (INEGI, 2016). Highlighted in blue are the neighborhoods that have in average 1.5 or fewer cars per household and the are located in areas of poor access to services and in restricted residential land use. If there is only one car per family, which member uses it? And, if they are located in these segregated housing areas, how do the other members of the family perform daily activities such as shopping, school or work if they are in a mono-type housing land use context?

headed households5. They were only identified in areas with high access to services and inside the perimeter of Guadalajara. Even though equity for women is a complex concept, I find a direct relationship between empowered woman who support their families and higher access to public services -such as transport, schools, markets and nursery facilities-.

Therefore, I infer that the project should be able to provide access to services in urban poor areas as a tool for an equal distribution of the city assets and woman empowerment.

For further comprehension, I identified â&#x20AC;&#x201C;with pink dots neighborhoods that had more than 7.5% of women-

4_ Very marginal and marginal areas are considered as urban poor areas. They are classi-

5_ Households where a female figure is the one that manages and provides the economic

fied by CONEVALâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s parameters. ing according to IMEPLAN Guadalajara (IMEPLAN, 2017).

revenue.

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KM 0 .5

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.8_M11 - Strategy.

1 The implementation of the integral program through the key projects will be based on a specific territorial strategy, which includes the interaction of the different levels of scale – unit, neighborhood and urban- and the parallel intervention of different social programs and infrastructure projects. The first part of the strategy includes the recognition of the elements of the specific location and the interaction between them –as analyzed in the SWOT-. In the second part we will attempt to use the same elements that are already in existence and are part of the identity of the area -such as in this case there are green and recreational corridors and commercial areas- to create extensive corridors that connect the different urban poor and marginalized neighborhoods through the promotion of the “the new role for stay-athome and unemployed women and men in urban poor neighborhoods” program; added to specific urban transformation and regeneration processes in the existing blocks with more than 50% of abandoned houses; looking for the implementation of the “new models of housing

Identifying elements

2 Neighborhood transformation projects in abandoned plots through the integration of services and commercial land uses.

3 Augmentation of density and local access to services and commercial areas. Reconfiguration of current massive transport systems to satisfy the new demand.

4 Connect the local network to the urban scale mobility network through a catalyzing infrastructure project.

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KM 0 .5

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

offer and the promotion of densityâ&#x20AC;? program.

5.9_ - Conclusions

The simultaneous implementation of both programs will attract a new density and local scale to the neighborhoods; same density that makes affordable the implementation of mobility projects in neighborhood scale; such as thicker sidewalks, bike roads and the configuration of the existing bus network to satisfy the new demand.

The implementation of a project with this variation of scales, levels of governance, stakeholders and soft/ hard infrastructure approach can only arrive as far as an integral strategy for someone who is not in site and is doing the analysis based on a layer and demographic research approach. Therefore, the development of the project will arrive until the creation of a strategy to implement the key projects previously mentioned.

By the fourth step of the strategy implementation scheme, the neighborhood will now work as a compact, affordable, social cohesive satellite city, which will attract the investment of private and public entities interest; same interest that will be used to catalyze projects with the objective of transforming the nearest metro station into a multimodal hub through the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Connecting new centralities to the city. Using mobility to catalyze opportunityâ&#x20AC;? program/ project..

While I was doing this thesis I had the opportunity to be selected as a candidate of PHD to continue the development of the strategy and the implementation of the 3 punctual project locations. This will allow me to profundizise the specific instruments of IMEPLAN has as tools for the regulation of the land use and the interested stakeholders that could take part in the negotiation and promotion of density and mobility infrastructure projects.

When successfully implemented and with continuous neighborhood supervision; this project will allow the transformation of a social housing poor urban complex to a compact economic prosper and social cohesive neighborhood; and will transform the current social housing unit into a tool that allows the citizens of Guadalajara to access their right to the city.

126

(Corona, L. 2000) 128

General Conclusions

SOCIAL HOUSING: The key to fight urban poverty in mexico.

5.9_ - Conclusions What started as a desire to reconfigurate all the social housing system access in ordert to diminish the ongrowing urban poor population percentage, ended as a firm strategy to put the topic in the center of all mexican policies. Everyday im more amazed of the tools i was given as a student of the EMU Master as an strategist and translator of economical, demographic and environmental issues in space; Added to the amazing opportunity that was given to me to be part of the municipal institute of planing Ahome; i realized developing a project was not enough, i had to guarantee the project could evolve far from being attached to an economic governmental fund. To understand the strategy i needed to fulfill i had to complement all urban and architectural knowledge with the existing planning tools that were available in each level of governance; focusing on the historical trends and the policies they were following to understand how they are visualized in the morphology of our cities today, I aimed to generate a model of social housing demand that was developed backwards: from the house unit scale to the urban scale: complemented with soft and hard infrastructure projects that were developed in the house unit but impacted on the hole neighborghood until this catalyzing effect arrived to the urban scale.

The relevance of this project lies in its ability to integrate communication and management of policies as tools for promotion and budget access for the implementation of social housing offer and erradication of urban poverty erradication through the transformation of abandoned neighborhoods. The coreography of simultaneous projects and programs, from individual housing units transformation to urban scale mobility infrastructure development, engages not only the beneficiary of the program, but the community itself; value that i firmly believe makes the difference between a succesfull long-termn, community involved social program and one that only depends of a governmental budget and lasts as long as the government is able to sustain it. While Mexican population enters the uncertant extreme-left government path, we must use our right to social housing to paralelly deman a collective benefit.

Mexican government should give its citizens the tools to develop through the access of public services not through a personal dependency of a one-direction economic payment. So, for all the greedy social housing complexes developers out there, you must know that the demand is changing and the current model is becoming obsolete; and if the government

130

wont stand to regulate the morphology and typology of the social housing offer, more tools like this thesis will be develop and we will communicate to everyone that wants to listen: YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO A DIGNIFY HOUSE and A DIGNIFIED HOUSE is equal to a DIGNIFIED COHESIVE COMMUNITY.

131

(Corona, L. 2000)

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