Social Housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario by Nathalia Mosquera Palomeque

SOCIAL HOUSING AS A STRATEGY FOR STRENGTHENING INCLUSION IN A POST-CONFLICT SCENARIO: THE CASE OF COLOMBIA’S “100 THOUSAND FREE HOUSES” PROGRAM

NATHALIA MOSQUERA PALOMEQUE

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the MSc Building and Urban Design in Development Word count: 10.868

Development Planning Unit University College London 1th September 2015

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my thanks to all the ones who contributed to this work, especially my supervisor Ruth McLeod, for her committed guidance, patience and support. I would also like to thank all the DPU academic staff, especially, Camillo Boano, Giorgio Talocci, Giovanna Astolfo, Giulia Carabelli and Catalina Ortiz for the invaluable knowledge shared during this year. Thanks to all my classmates for making BUDD one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to my family and friends for all the unconditional love and positive energy sent from the distance.

Acronyms

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Content Introduction 6 Chapter 1

1. The exclusionary nature of conflicts

The challenge of building inclusive cities in a post-conflict scenario

1.1. Forced displacement and the contested urban space 2. A heterogeneous post-conflict scenario

10 11

2.1. Segregation and division in the urban space

2.2. Addresing diversity

3. Social housing in a post-conflict scenario: an inclusion tool

4. Analytical framework: Towards building inclusive cities

Chapter 2

1. A conflictive scenario

The Colombian case “A comprehensive approach”

1.1. Colombia’s armed conflict 2. Colombia’s housing policy

19 21

2.1. “An integral policy”

2.2. “100 thousand free houses”

Chapter 3

1. Montería, Cordoba

3. Bogotá D.C.

2. Cartagena de Indias, Bolivar

Three cities, three different aproaches

Conclusions 44 List of figures

References 48 Appendix 54 5

Introduction Cities are contested spaces. They are the reflection of the social, economic and political situation of the context in which they are placed. In them power relations are exposed, impregnating the physical form with their characteristics. Colombian cities have been for over 60 years witnesses of the internal conflict that started as a bipartite fight and through time morphed into a heterogeneous war shaped by multiple factors, one of those being the demands of globalization. After the 80s, Colombia’s conflict was permeated by drug trafficking. Its main actors, guerrillas, paramilitary groups, police and armed forces fought a war for control over territory that resulted in the forced displacement to cities of approximately 6.3 million people during the period between 1985 and 2015. The arrival of these new urban inhabitants, most of them as extreme urban poor, is closely related with the exponential growth of cities, the appearance of informal settlements and a particularly complex social dynamic that has led to the reinforcement of segregation and division in Colombian urban centres. Facing a possible peaceful ending of the armed conflict, Colombia has been implementing several changes in its housing policies. The lack of instruments able to benefit the most vulnerable groups of society, triggered the issuance of two statements of the Constitutional court forcing the national government to take action towards the repair and integration of this population in the normal processes of the country. Following that the “1448 Victims and Land Restitution Law” and the 1537 law that promotes urban development and access to housing, were enacted. With the aim of building sustainable and inclusive cities through social housing and at the same time reducing quantitative housing deficits, the national government set the goal of building 100.000 free housing solutions. After that, in 2012 the program with the same name came to light. Over 90.000 housing units were built across the national territory, keeping the promise made, but at the same time raising questions about the quality of social housing and the real impacts these projects are going to have on the way Colombian cities are being built. This dissertation, structured in four parts, will analyse the degree to which this programme can provide an effective basis for creating inclusive housing processes in post-conflict Colombian cities. The first chapter will try to understand the meaning of the word inclusion, in a general context in which exclusion has its origins in “structural changes, which affect all groups within a given social structure” (Madanipour, 1998). In this case, those structural changes are given by the varying dynamics of the Colombian conflict, its relations with other economic, political and social forces, its associations with all the actors involved, and overall its power to transform the spatial nature of cities. This part concludes with an applicable analytical framework that will set the basis and a set of lenses to understand and analyse how the projects are conceived, built and delivered, which

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

are the bases of the those processes, who has a saying in the matter, and how do they reproduced. The second part will explain the characteristics of the Colombian conflict, its effects on the urbanization patterns of cities and the way in which housing policy has developed in parallel to it. Additionally, the third chapter will try to confront the analytical framework with the 100.000 free houses program. It is out of the scope of this dissertation to analyse every project constructed under the program, due to the large amount of solutions built in more than 20 Colombian urban centres. The analysis will then focus only on three cities of different characteristics and contexts. The first city is Monteria, located in the north of Colombia. During a period of 15 years this 434.950 inhabitants city, received 100.722 people (almost 20% of its total population), displaced by paramilitary groups, guerrilla and criminal bands. Forced displacement, poverty and informality, became the main problematic of the municipality, but the lack of actions to support the most vulnerable population groups, reinforced exclusionary practices, whereas the city remained at the bottom of the national concerns. With a new environment of trust, built during the last administration, the city has effectively met the requirements of the National Government regarding the Free Housing Program, but the strong private participation in the development of the projects, has raised doubts about the urban and social impacts of the program in the municipality. The second city, Bogotá, is the capital and main economic and political urban centre of the country. Bogotá’s Mayor adopted a policy to increase the population densities in the “enlarged city centre”, in order to stop the growth across the periphery. Consequently, the municipality proposed the construction of social housing in this area. The expensive price of land was incompatible with the intentions of the National Government, the situation caused disputes and altered the plans of the municipality. Location, accessibility, facilities but overall the way in which the projects have been developed, differ from the approaches other cities took, creating an interesting case of analysis but evidencing some of the weak points of the program. Finally, the city of Cartagena de Indias will be the used to exemplify why a change in the discourse is needed in order to reconfigure the structures altered by war. This tourist centre on the Caribbean coast, presents one of the highest rates of segregation, poverty and racial discrimination in the country. The housing problems of the city are being addressed as big urban operations on the periphery of the city. The completion of the process in such a complex environment might reinforce previously existing problems instead of solving them, jeopardizing the processes by which inclusion is achieved. The expected outcome of this analysis is to open a discussion on the role of social housing and the challenges it faces in the task of transforming Colombian cities into inclusive and equally distributed centres in which to build strong bases able to hold the necessary processes to acquire a tangible peace.

FIGURE 1: Publicity board in Sons贸n, Antioquia

Source:http://www.sonson-antioquia.gov.co/noticias.shtml?apc=Cnxx-1-&x=2667777

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Chapter 1

The challenge of building inclusive cities in a post-conflict scenario

1. The exclusionary nature of conflicts

“Conflict transforms society, rather than simply destroying it, causing people to adapt their behaviour and their livelihoods in order to survive or to minimize risk, or to capitalize on the opportunities that conflict presents” (Collinson, 2003, in Zetter et al, 2013, p.207)

Social exclusion can be understood as a “process within a whole society that prevents the full participation of certain groups in the economic, political and cultural life of the society within which they live” (Madanipour, 1998, p.17). It is an unforeseen outcome of the system (Hills et al, 2002). A multidimensional process in which structural changes alter the relations between the actors involved and the space they inhabit. Although unintended, most of the exclusionary processes contemporary cities face, are the consequence of unfortunate breakdowns in the system, that imply changes in the social norms due to disruptions in the contracts between the state and society (Justino et al, 2013). Violent conflicts have the power to alter those associations. They seem to adjust to the intricacy of our societies. They are able to transform them into scenarios in which, the violence with which they operate, their incomprehensible character and overall their strength, produces failures in the fundamental relationship between the citizens and the state (Justino et al, 2013). As a consequence, their action creates a stretch in the divide between political, private, individual and collective forces (Raeymaekers, 2013), changing the distribution of power and institutionalization (Justino et al, 2013). Those changes, challenge the performance of urban governance expressions and the dynamics of economic development. Cities then transform into richness generation centres (Patiño, 2013), in which the fight to have control over the opportunities that economic growth provides, alter the way in which the environment is built, reinforcing previously constructed patterns of segregation and exclusion and keeping the issues derived from war and other social problems ignored. As the notions of identity, citizenship and nation are redefined and acquire new meaning (Raeymaekers, 2013). The idea of governance - understood as the pat-

terns of institutional relationships among groups in the urban space that shape the decisions about the city, its processes and relations (Madanipour et al, 2002) - gets weak, allowing the expressions of war to have an impact in the space and permeate it. Cities that have suffered from chronic ongoing conflicts, develop different social dynamics if compared to other territories in which the conflict has produced acute destruction. The dynamics on which exclusion is based, become an “operating mechanism, and institutionalized form of controlling access to places, to activities, to resources and information” (Madanipour, 1998, p.76). Through their specific impact those dynamics transform cities into confrontation scenarios in which the social demands become complex and embedded (Patiño, C., 2013). Inclusionary activities, work in close relationship with exclusionary processes to maintain a social fabric (Madanipour, 1998, p.76). For instance, in the political field, one variable of inclusion is the right to vote. In parallel, not having a candidate advocating for the particular interests of a group of citizens and therefore, lacking of representation, brings consequences that perpetuate exclusion and render invisible spatial and social demands.

1.1. Forced displacement and the contested urban space

Space is always a work in progress. It is composed by interactions, and it is a direct outcome of them (Gaffiki et al, 2011, p.100). As socially constructed collective processes, violent conflicts have the power to alter those relations by rearranging the already formed cultural, political, social and economic structures (Justino et al, 2013). Alongside the destruction, weakness of the institutional capacity, lack of security and erosion of the social relations, conflict induced displacements, almost always follow violent outbursts of war. According to the “UN High Commissioner for refugees” (UNHCR), until the end of 2014, 38 million people had been forcibly displaced within their own countries, in conflicts as diverse and complex as the global territory itself. In the cases related to violent conflicts, mobility almost always brings negative outcomes. “The destruction of social networks and the consequent depletion of important elements of the social, economic, and political capital (Justino et al, 2013, p.14), added to the unprivileged position in which forcibly displaced people arrive to urban areas and other settlements of choice, forces them to live under cycles of deprivation that are hard to scape, and puts them in disadvantage if compared to other inhabitants of the urban space. Thus, displacement in the context of violent conflicts should be seen as a configuring axis of the development of cities, a process derived from war that feeds the already existing exclu-

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

sionary mechanisms of the city. The rapid nature of the change, the competitiveness of the environment, and the proportion of the transformation reflect the multidimensional character of the urban and exemplify its complexities (Gaffikin et al, 2011). Socio-spatial segregation between the rich and the poor and high levels of informality become the urban processes and backgrounds to which the forcibly displaced populations will arrive. Their entrance to the urban space will be then regulated by those processes (Zetter et al, 2013) and their adaptation to the new conditions will contribute to the creation of new layers that at the same time will reproduce new identities.

2. A heterogeneous post-conflict scenario

“The urban has become a concentrated arena that tests humanity’s ability to live peaceably with difference” (Gaffikin et al, 2011, p.19))

The post-conflict city is the result of transformative processes in which newly formed economic, political and cultural identities give significance to cities and open spaces for associations to be made and interactions to take place (Madanipour, 2006). Urban spaces acquire a personality of their own. As migration, mobility and overall diversity, displace traditional cultures and start a process in which the trans- nationalization of ethnic, religious, racial and cultural identities, enable new urban formations. Hence, space becomes the field of “coexisting heterogeneity” that as a consequence reflects and changes the “multiplicities and pluralities of the contemporary society” (Gaffikin et al, 2011). Expressions of identity take different shapes according to the context in which they are inscribed. The continuous process of their configuration makes their enduring character, a transient one. They can be “singular or multiple in form; ascribed or achieved, individually chosen or collectively imposed; varied in its fixity, and in the interplay of power and resistance in its formation” (Gaffikin et al, 2011, p.85). In a context where violent conflict has been a constant, the processes of formulation and configuration of those identities, are permeated with protection and survival mechanisms that fill spaces with particularly symbolic connotations, and make their fabric, meaning and identities become largely politicized (ibid). Space, therefore, becomes a key element when talking about the segregation or

integration of a community, as it shapes the geometries of those identities and as a consequence is able to keep the excluded individuals or communities at the bottom of the social latter. Seen in a city context this means the conformation and consolidation of deprived peripheral or inner city areas (Madanipour, 1998).

2.1.

Segregation and division in the urban space

Cities are by nature composed of a set of neighbourhoods that are the unintended outcome of processes of separation and division, strengthened by the influence of architecture, function, and population (Smets, 2008). If well it is true that the occurrence of those processes is normal within the dynamics of an urban centre, it is also true that the influence of conflicts and globalization, has the power to deepen those naturally created fissures (ibid). The processes derived from war are undeniable articulated with spaces, places and territories, their effects, underprivileged affected areas reinforcing patterns of segregation in the peripheries and socio-spatial inequality within cities (Brenner and Theodore, 2010). These uneven dynamics of development reinforce the mechanisms on which social exclusion work, affecting the relations of the people living within these areas with the city. Although those inequalities are evident in aspects like access to public services, infrastructure, transportation, employment opportunities and overall, the connection to all the activities and services a city provides (Smets, 2008), the effect they have on the way social relations among citizens work, cause the stigmatization and segregation of their inhabitants based on the complex association of race, backgrounds, cultural associations, religion and the space they inhabit.

2.2. Addresing diversity

Different policy approaches have tried to deal with the rapid changes and the heterogeneity of contemporary societies. A first approach exalted the values of multiculturalism, in a scenario in which public policy encourages the distinctiveness of ethnic, religious and cultural minorities. In the opposite end, assimilation implied for individuals to completely blend in with the identity and specific context of the place where they arrived, adopting social, cultural and politic features like the dominating language, the attitudes and behaviours used in the host country (Emerson, 2013). Both approaches can be problematic. The first one creates deep forms of differentiation (Madanipour, 1998). â&#x20AC;&#x153;Groups learn of each other by means of distant,

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

indirect experience. Through reading or through what they hear from their neighbours or see on television. Their knowledge is then based on shallow understanding, prejudices, and superficialities” (Van Kempen, 2010, p.24 in Gaffikin et al, 2011, p.91). The second one puts all the responsibility for inclusion and integration in the wider context, in the hands of the individuals or communities arriving to cities. It denies the existence of difference and distinctiveness, and proposes a “monolithic concept of citizenship” (Emerson, 2013, p.3). A post-conflict scenario requires a change in the role of the state as a guarantor of the continuity of a process that is not static. It also requires a shift in the government structures, as they should provide new meaning to policies that were formerly directed to a specific group of citizens but should be more generic (Badescu, 2014). Interculturalism “attempts to find solutions located between the polar opposites of multiculturalism and assimilation. It is sympathetic and respectful of ethnic, cultural or religious minorities, and helpful with selected targeted measures to disadvantage situations, yet it also aims to ensure commitment to the values, history, and tradition of the host nation” (Emerson, 2013, p.3). With the use of processes rather than mere outcomes, integration try to facilitate the inclusion of communities and groups through measures that improve their competence in the host territory (ibid).

3. Social housing in a post-conflict scenario: an inclusion tool

“Housing as a complex functional resource; as a cultural symbol and social artefact; as an object of economic value; and as part of a wider community expressed through the spatial design of settlements” (Zetter and Boano, 2010, p.228)

The transition from a conflictive situation towards a peaceful one is not necessarily a process with a beginning and an end. Rather, the irreversible damage to physical, financial, human and social assets, exponentially enables a more complex scenario in which the demands are higher (Justino et al, 2013). In this new scenario, housing plays an important role. It acts as a regulator of the associations and interactions between the non-tangible aspects shaping the urban space production, and the physical characteristics of the urban space. The housing

project itself becomes an integration element. Their specific geometries shape the manifested social relationships (Madanipour, 2006). Therefore, it has the power to regulate the access to human, physical and financial capitals (Hills et al, 2002) and overall to common narratives of cities, enabling inclusion or perpetuation exclusion. Following this line of thought, it is relevant to outline the importance of understanding that the housing project should be constituted around the notion of place rather than space. As previously defined, space is the result of dynamic processes of social construction and re-definition, that in a post-conflict scenario becomes the arena in which the heterogeneity of the contemporary city reflects (Massey, 2005 in Gaffikin et al, 2011). On the other hand, place is the result of a process in which people give meaning, identity, and name to a space (Zetter and Boano, 2010). “Space can be thought of as nature, place as culture; space as a void, place as habitable; space as abstract, place as concrete; space as mobility, place as relative stability; and space as wild and chaotic, place as more domesticated” Gaffikin et al, 2011, p.97). Therefore, the housing project should be part of a constructed place. It should be the result of a process in which the harmonized relation of networks enables the construction of place, inherently helped by what the notion of “good city making” adds to the equation. The conception of housing as an object, detached from the actors and forces shaping its production and therefore the production of cities, has perpetuated exclusionary patterns of urban growth and development. When the housing project is detached from the urban and social aspect surrounding its production, and its only usable to provide solutions based on demand, its conceptualization and execution become problematic. Therefore, the production of housing should be seen through a dynamic and multi-dimensional viewpoint, able to address the process of urban transformation. It should also integrate “a time dimension into the process of spatial change, rather than only focusing on a particular place or a single moment in the process” (Madanipour, 2006, p.174). The shift towards Neo-liberal approaches many countries went through, during the 1980s, altered the way in which housing production was managed, relieving governments of the duty of providing quality solutions to housing problems (McGuirk, J., 2014). The search for quality and innovation, a characteristic of the modern times, was changed for standardized and industrialized models of housing, obtained through the provision of “mortgage finance and subsidies to private developers” (Ferguson et al, 2014, p.40). “Most governments largely stopped direct housing production. Instead, they provided mortgages at below-market rates supplemented by direct-demand subsidies [a portable voucher for home-ownership] and provided land for free or at discounted rates to private developers to build affordable housing” (ibid, p.42), benefiting mostly the private sector, middle-income families and the finance industry. Housing was then perceived as a tool for economic growth rather than an element able to act as a “Platform for change” in which the “houses are not the end but the beginning” (McGuirk, 2014, p.75). The process of building peace is a long one. It takes decades and generations to acknowledge the challenges that reconciliation brings (Badescu, 2014). The

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

impacts on societies and as a consequence on the urban arena, require shifting the former ways of finding solutions to the problems. Housing production in this specific context requires thinking about what is necessary to guaranty the construction of peace. How to build collectively, sustainable housing projects, able to become places in which the meaning of the words reconciliation and peace, transforms into tangible processes.

4. Analytical framework: Towards building inclusive cities

Understanding that there are multiple scenarios and that those multiple scenarios require diverse solutions, can guarantee a successful way of addressing the issues related with building peace, through housing. During this post-conflict scenario the city, and as a consequence housing becomes â&#x20AC;&#x153;a political space inside the territorial nation-state where multicultural and transnational identities can be more freely articulated (Baubock, 2003, in Amin, 2006, p. 1012). This work has started a discussion on the relevance of housing, in a context in which the structures of the state require a shift, in order to produce inclusionary processes able to break the previous social, economic and political structures strengthened by conflict. The 100.000 housing program, whose main beneficiaries are victims of the armed conflict, (during decades have been overlooked by the national government), will be the case study used to analyse the role social housing is having in the consolidation of Colombian cities as peace-building centres. The analysis will try to determine if this is a successful strategy or is a continuation of the market-driven initiatives that characterized previous yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s efforts. Through the use of a series of variables (born out of the previous theoretical framework) this work will try to relate the social housing debate with the dynamics of conflict, and with the challenges and demands of a post-conflict scenario. Using a city approach, the analysis will strategically try to determine if the choices each municipality has made with respect to institutional responsibilities and roles, economics, time / process, diversity, and urban connectivity are relevant to the inclusion and exclusion debate. Besides the peace-building role these projects are supposed to have, they are being constructed in already contested cities. The analysis will also try to determine what is the logic behind their implementation and how are they getting along with the development of contemporary Colom-

FIGURE 2: Analytical framework

bian cities.

Source: Author

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

FIGURE 3: Peasants demonstration in Antioquia

Source: Jesus Abad Colorado

FIGURE 4: The conflic throughout history

Source: Author, based on data from (Centro de Memoria Historica, 2013)

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Chapter 2

The Colombian case “A comprehensive approach”

“Colombia just started to acknowledge the dimensions of her own tragedy. Even though most of the Colombians are aware of the different manifestations of the conflict, few have a clear notion of its reach, of its impact and of its reproduction mechanisms, many want to continue seeing in the actual violence, a simple vandalism expression and not a manifestation of deep problems in the configuration of our political and social order”. (Centro de Memoria Histórica, 2013, p. 13)

1. A conflictive scenario

With the objective of reaching a “general agreement to end the conflict and to construct a durable and stable peace” on October 12 of 2012, the Colombian government and the oldest guerrilla group active in the world, known as “Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia” (FARC), began a peace negotiation process, in La Habana, Cuba. The possibility of having a durable and tangible peace, triggered the debate around a scenario in which Colombia is detached from war. The complexity, length, and differentiation of the conflict have hampered the task of imagining this scenario, due to the impossibility to attach this war to the currently available interpretative models and the inability to compare it to other contemporary experiences (Naranjo Giraldo, N., 2001).

1.1. Colombia’s armed conflict

“The invasive character of the violence and its duration, act in detriment of the acknowledgment of the particularities of its actors, specific logics and victims. Its urgent presence has drawn people to underestimate the political and social problems that lie beneath its origin”. (Centro de Memoria Histórica, 2013, p.13)

For over 60 years, Colombia has witnessed of one of the longest conflicts in the contemporary world 1. Multiple actors and events have been shaping the dynamics of this confrontation and overall of the way the country, its inhabitants and its cities have adapted to the circumstances. The processes related to this war have been extensive, diluted on time, recurrent and continuous (Naranjo Giraldo, N., 2001). Their effects have reshaped the social dynamics of the Colombian cities and have affected their spatial geography.

1. For detailed information, please refer to figure 4, and appendix 1

Although it is true that the Colombian conflict is rural by nature, it is also true that the dynamics of war have had concrete expressions on cities, affecting the way informality, unemployment, urban violence and urban governability are perceived. One of those expressions has been the mass exodus of rural populations to urban centres. Being violence its frame, forced displacement has become a collective long lasting representation (Pecault, D., 1999). It has been recurrent and almost permanent, it is now part of the memory of the families and urban inhabitants, and it preceded the establishment of neighbourhoods in big cities and of large and small towns all over the internal frontiers. (Naranjo Giraldo, N., 2001). Although the success in the fight against armed groups, has decreased the number of internally displaced people within the country the lack of willingness of the municipalities to include in their plans, long-term policies able to integrate and provide alternatives to the migrants (Sanchez, L., 2008), has prevented them from settling and finding socio-economic stability and security.

FIGURE 5: Displacement in numbers

Source: Author, using information from the RUV. Based on the graph from (Moya RodrĂguez and Harker Roa, 2015)

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

2. Colombia’s housing policy

“During decades, the victims were ignored within the legitimate discourses of war, they were vaguely recognized under the generic tag of civil population or even worse under the pejorative noun of ‘collateral damage’. From this perspective they were considered a residual effect of the war and not as the centre of its regulations”

(Centro de Memoria Histórica, 2013, p.14)

Colombia’s housing policy has been evolving alongside with the armed conflict, although not always in synchrony with the demands of a conflictive state. The widespread migration processes, that characterized the first period of the Colombian conflict created a unique, non-supremacy urban growth tendency, if compared with other Latin American cities in which the migration flows were directed mainly to the capital (MVCT, 2014). This pattern of urbanization triggered the formulation of policies to deal with the constantly growing urban centres. The creation of a set of specialized housing banks and institutions, such as the “Territorial Credit Institute” (ICT), the “Central Mortgage Bank” BCH, the “Popular Housing Fund” CVP, and the “Military Housing Fund” (CVM) (focused the construction and funding of rural and urban housing), and the appearance of housing subsidies and housing cooperatives (as part of the institutional framework), marked the beginning of the state driven interventions in this field. During this period the “ITC and the BCH supported processes for the application of minimum urbanization and services norms, gave support to massive housing programs and applied John Turner thoughts as articulated at first Habitat conference in Vancouver in 1976” (Escallón and Rodriguez, 2010, p.8). Although the country turned into an experiment laboratory that encouraged auto construction and self-help housing. The efforts were directed to formally employed people, forcing lowest-income sectors of the population and the dependants of the informal sector to find alternative solutions for their housing problems. In the 1990s the influence of international politics, opened spaces in Colombia for the implementation of neoliberal policies. As Gilbert explains, in the case of Colombia “Housing policy was reformed along neoliberal lines with the aim of suppressing the specialized housing banks. It gave more responsibility to the municipalities, dismantled the old state model of direct construction moving to a demand-based subsidy system.” The role of the state as a provider was shifted to a facilitator one, altering the public responsibility with respect to housing. The private character of this scenario decreased the possibilities of the poor to access the housing solutions designed for them in market driven strategies. The last two periods of the armed conflict brought with them massive waves of

internally displaced people to cities all over the national territory. Therefore, it was expected that housing provision responded to those processes (Anzellini, S., et al, 2008). To the contrary, the lack of availability of cheap urban land pushed the construction of social housing to the periphery, creating new spatialized forms of segregation. With very high housing deficits, poor habitability conditions in increasing informal settlements, and an elevated number of internally displaced people2, changes to the way in which the country had been moving, needed to be made. The enactment of the 1537 law of 2012 (by which the norms to facilitate and promote the urban development and the access to housing are dictated)3 represented the beginning of what the national government called the “Integral Housing Policy”.

2. According to the “Victims Register” (RUV), 6’360.302 million people had been forcibly displaced during the period between 1985 and 2015. This number makes Colombia the country with the largest internally displaced population in the world. 3. For more details refer to Appendix 2

FIGURE 6: Housing policy throughout history

Source: Author, based on data from (MVCT, 2014)

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

2.1. “An integral policy”

As asked by the changing political environment in which having a signed peace agreement turned out to be a possibility. The national government, headed by Juan Manuel Santos, began to implement a series of policies and laws, to prepare the country for the challenges that the end of the armed conflict would bring. Building “Cities for coexistence” became the main challenge identified by Santos administration for this post-conflict scenario, in which all actors of the conflict would need housing solutions.

4. Law 1450 of 2011

To avoid the segregation of those historically active actors of the conflict (displaced people, demobilized guerrilla and paramilitary men, and overall victims), and to link the housing projects with larger-scale plans for the cities and the regions of their implementation, housing policies took territorial approaches. Following that principle, a system of cities (“urban regions”) was created. The main objective behind their implementation was to enable the establishment of territorial norms and guidelines, to articulate the housing needs of municipalities, with the availability of land within the region. Alongside, the “National Development Plan” (PND) 4, also provided the necessary framework to create the “Macro-projects of National Social Interest” (MISN), to put an end to the fragmented and small-scale interventions, through the promotion of concentrated housing, public spaces, roads, and facilities (MVCT, 2014). Another important component (introduced during this administration) was the segmentation of the housing demand and offer. The articulation of the Housing policy with the strategies to overcome extreme poverty allowed the government to define the instruments necessary to attend different sectors of the Colombian society. A differential approach, if is taken into consideration that during the last two decades that lack of attention paid to those factors, prevented the most vulnerable population groups, from entering the housing markets.

FIGURE 7: Components of the Integral policy

Source: Author, based on data from (MVCT, 2014)

2.2. â&#x20AC;&#x153;100 thousand free housesâ&#x20AC;?

In April 2012, the free housing program was announced. It sought to provide 100.000 free5 housing solutions to households in prioritized vulnerable situations, without access to credit or saving capacity, affected by natural disasters and/or living in extreme poverty6. With an estimated cost of 4.4 billion pesos7 it contemplated in its first phase the execution of 281 projects in 211 Colombian municipalities.

FIGURE 8: Free housing program in the Colombian territory

5. Refer to figure 9 (Mechanisms for the development of housing projects) 6. For more information about the mechanism to select the families, refer to appendix 3. 7. 1.5 billion dollars approx.

Source: Author, based on data from (MVCT, 2014)

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

8. The projects built under this program can be located in any of the 33 â&#x20AC;&#x153;urban regionsâ&#x20AC;? identified by the National Government, and can be as well part of the MISNs.

By the end of June of 2015, 91.000 housing solutions had been finished in 205 municipalities8. All that through the implementation of a scheme that maintains the same elements introduced by previous market based models, but in which the state provides the general legal framework of the policy, and the construction and financial aspects are the responsibility of private developers (MVCT, 2014).

FIGURE 9: Project development mechanism

Source: Author, based on data from (Urna de cristal, 2012)

Being true that the program has delivered the promised number of housing units and has reached the goals set, there is still one question. How is the articulation of those projects with the economic, politic, social and cultural dynamics of the municipalities in which they are being built? To start the discussion on this aspect, the program will be analysed using a city lens in which the previously presented analytical framework will be applied to determine where these projects stand and which role they play in the task of consolidating a solid strategy for building inclusive and sustainable cities able to provide the adequate environment to construct and maintain peace.

FIGURE 10: Housing delivery in Chaparral, Tolima

Source: http://www.100milviviendasgratis.gov.co/ministerio/index.php/sobre-el-proyecto/

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Chapter 3

Three cities, three different aproaches

Three urban centres located at different regions of the national territory and with distinct approaches to housing and urban issues and plans, will be analysed. This dissertation has discussed on the importance of the heterogeneity of Colombian territory in the consolidation of strong peace-building processes in a post-conflict scenario. Therefore, the discussion could benefit from having a wider multidimensional analysis from different points. Almost 4 years have gone by since the first announcement of the program was done. The program is now on its second phase, but 91.000 projects are still up for follow ups and analysis. The following section will try to portray the performance of these projects in three of those cities, Monteria, Bogotรก and Cartagena, and in general show the challenges the national government has to face in order to have concordance between theory and practice. In order to relate the cases with the theory developed previously. It is necessary to return to the lenses of analysis proposed in chapter one (Figure 2). Their use in all of three the cases, is going to guaranty having a comparison, able to lead to wider conclusions about the program in general.

FIGURE 11: Location of the cities.

Source: The author

1. Montería, Cordoba During the past few years the northern city of Monteria, Cordoba, has been the focus of national attention. The ambitious plans to recuperate public spaces, and to upgrade sewage and road infrastructure have been accomplished (Semana, 2015). A rather strange happening if it is taken into account that eight years ago, Monteria was a forbidden by the state city, suffering from all the problems associated with the armed conflict, including displacement. According to the RUV, the strong presence in the region of paramilitary groups and their fight over the control of territory9 with FARC and ELN guerrillas, caused during the last three decades the forced displacement of 100.722 people to Monteria, almost 20% of the total population. The large amount of displaced people and the lack of instruments and programs to provide options for them, submerge the city in a cycle of poverty, informality and inequality very difficult to break.

FIGURE 12: Montería

9. A direct consequence of the regions wealth of natural resources and geographic location (very close to the ocean and Panama), ideal for completion of the full drug trafficking cycle (cultivation, processing, and distribution) (Razón pública, 2011).

Source: http://www.forosperu.net/temas/conoce-monteria-colombia.658476/

FIGURE 13: Projects in Montería 1 2 3

PROJECT URBANIZACION LA GLORIA URBANIZACION FINZENU URBANIZACION EL RECUERDO

TIPE * PRIVATE PRIVATE PRIVATE

STATUS DELIVERED DELIVERED DELIVERED

MANAGEMENT MVCT MVCT MVCT

FINANCING UNITS SFVE 1600 SFVE 324 SFVE 3000 TOTAL 4924

M2 47.3 44 40.7

BENEFICIARIES CONFLICT AND RISK CONFLICT AND RISK CONFLICT AND RISK

* Public: Designed and constructed by public entities through cooperation schemes. Private: Designed and constructed by private developers in private plots of land. Public-private: Designed and constructed by private developers in public plots of land.

FIGURE 14: Urbanización El Recuerdo

Source: The author

Source:http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=595057&page=283

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

FIGURE 15: Location of the projects in Montería

Source: The author

Institutional roles and responsabilities

10. As mentioned earlier, the private developers receive the payment once the housing solutions and the projects in general, fulfil the requirement set in the public bids.

The case of Montería is maybe the most successful, if analysed in terms of meeting the goals set by the national government for the Free Housing Program. Originally out of the 4924 “Family Housing Subsidies in Kind” (SFVE) that were allocated to the city, all were converted into housing solutions in three big projects La Gloria, Finzenú, and El Recuerdo (Dinero, 2012). The construction was done through schemes in which privately owned land was developed by the private sector and later presented to the MVCT to be part of the Free Housing Program10. The success and effectiveness of the program in Montería are because through these schemes the national government and the municipalities are relieved from doing the technical part of the task (designing, licensing, constructing and delivering), leaving that responsibility in hands of the constructors. Although by following this path the projects are constructed faster, and the government can provide more housing units, the misalignment of the desires and intentions of the private sector with the needs of the municipalities become a threat to the program, as the achievement of the greater aim that is to propitiate inclusion might be left behind.

Economics When asked about the level of confidence the National government had in the city, Montería’s Mayor Carlos Eduardo Correa, answered: “The government sees that we execute really fast and that we show results, there is a lot of trust in Monteria” (El Colombiano, 2013). That feeling of trust not only comes from the National government but also from the private sector that sees Monteria as the perfect place to put their investments (El Heraldo, 2014). In this case, the execution of the projects was a win-win situation. On one side, the national government needed to achieve the goal of delivering a certain number of housing units in a determinate period of time, and on the other side the private developers benefited from the secured profit that having the national government as guarantor could bring.

FIGURE 16: Urbanización La Gloria

Source: http://www.100milviviendasgratis.gov.co/publico/Micrositio.aspx?Id=183

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Connectivity Although Montería has shown over the year’s moderate density and growth rates (FINDETER, 2014), it is also true that the city has problems with its public transport systems and the infrastructures of mobility. The high costs of the public transport and its low coverage make it inaccessible for a wide number of people. Studies have shown that in Montería 32% of the daily work-related trips are done walking, and 28 % by bike, the study also showed that the average cost of transportation for a poor family would be of 117% of their total income (ibid), an unaffordable amount of money for a family living in extreme poverty. It is important to highlight this point, because all the projects built in Montería, are located in peripheral areas, and walking distances to the nearest school, hospital and police stations are of about 35 minutes. This is not bad if compared to bigger cities, but it is important because it might stop some population groups, like infants and elderly from having full access to the city.

FIGURE 17: Closest facilities

Source: The author

Diversity Montería is a culturally and racially diverse city. Arabic, black, Spanish and indigenous influences have shaped the social dynamics of this city for over two centuries (FINDETER, 2014). The three already built projects seem not to recognise that diversity. The monolithic architecture doesn’t reflect the varied character of the city, nor is the reflection of the environment, weather and overall of the people living in it. As shown in (figure 18), two of them were designed using a single typology, denying the existence of different family compositions, only the FINZENU project has a progressive scheme of development. The typologies used in La Gloria and El Recuerdo don’t allow the families to expand their houses, to adapt them, or to use them as income generation sources. The inflexible schemes with which they were built, seem to follow market driven design strategies to optimize the costs of construction. Which can be valid in other contexts, but should be out of the discussion in housing projects that are constructed for families that are just starting to break the poverty cycle. FIGURE 18: Housing typologies in Montería

Source: The author, based on information from http://www.100milviviendasgratis.gov.co

Time/process During 2014, Montería entered the list of Colombian cities that are going to received support from the IDB through the “Emerging and Sustainable cities initiative”. This platform was originally created to help medium size, Latin American emerging cities with their processes of environmental, urban, financial and governmental sustainability. Montería is in the first stage of the process11, but the right application of the strategies and investment set for the city through the platform, can help to give guide urban and housing processes and at the same time find better ways to deal with housing deficits in synchrony with the urban needs and private interests. Today, Monteria lacks of a strategic plan to articulate housing needs with the urban plans. The city has been working towards the recuperation of the river as the main public space within the city. It could be interesting and a real symbol of inclusion and reparation to add housing projects for the most vulnerable population groups to those plans. Montería has the perfect size and the right conditions to generate a creative platform of innovative projects in which to propitiate change.

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

11. It is a plan until 2032.

FIGURE 19: Urbanizaci贸n Finzen煤

Source: http://www.findeter.gov.co/loader.php?lServicio=Galeria&lFuncion=verAlbum&id=311

FIGURE 20: Urbanizaci贸n El Recuerdo

Source: http://www.findeter.gov.co/loader.php?lServicio=Galeria&lFuncion=verAlbum&id=311

3. Bogotá D.C. Bogotá is the capital of Colombia and with 8’854.72212 inhabitants, it is the biggest and most important urban centre of the country. The cultural, economic, social and politic relations that converge in this city, attract people from all over the country. If well it is true that most of the 32% 13 migrants living in the city came following the opportunities the urban centre provided, almost 5.4% (485.095) of those, were forced to migrate. The entrance of this families to Bogotá was regulated by the already existing segregation and exclusion processes sustained in the city. During the past three decades, Bogota’s urbanization processes were fragmented. Urban expansion was led by informal developments located in non-urbanized plots of land in which the improvement of urban and architectonic habitability conditions depended of neighbourhood improvement programs. At the same time, social housing developed since the 90s also affected the way Bogota’s periphery grew. The individual patterns of appearance, that followed the regulations established by the market, helped creating a deficient city that lacked of public spaces, quality transport and facilities (Torchópulos and Ceballos, 2003). As a response to those processes, the Administration of Gustavo Petro14 (Mayor of the city) structured his plans and proposals around the human being, and with the objective of building less segregated cities, prioritized the attention to victims of the conflict and forcibly displaced population in programs related with access to housing and infrastructure (Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, 2012). In order to do so, the Mayor proposed the revitalization of the “Enlarged Centre”. A process that encouraged densification, through the development of public-private urban projects, in which to promote the production of housing for the most vulnerable sectors of society. Those projects would have benefited from the qualified infrastructure and facilities the centre of the city provided (Ibid), and would have brought people living in them, closer to work sites and bigger scale facilities.

12. According to the DANE projections based on the 2005 national census. 13. Based on the “Encuesta Multiproposito” (multipurpose survey) done in 2014 for the city of Bogotá. Any person born in a different municipality than the one they live in, is considered a migrant.

14. Ex M19 guerrilla militant (M19 guerrilla dissolved on March, 1990 after peace talks), belonging to the Polo Democrático party (left hand opposition party). The national government is conformed mostly by members from different right hand parties, headed by President Juan Manuel Santos.

Institutional roles and responsabilities A polemic change in the “Territorial Ordinance Plan” (POT)15 , enabled the execution of this strategy. Consequently, in a bid to “dignify the victims of the conflict” and to decrease the housing deficit16 , 70.000 housing units were promised. Out of those 70 thousand, 40.000 were supposed to come from the support of the National government that saw in Bogotá a key place to execute the program. However, the unavailability of land in the “enlarged centre”, the private character of the available land, and problems with the capacity of the sewage infrastructure (La Silla Vacia, 2012), decreased the effective opportunities to carry on with the plans. The National Government suggested using the available, undeveloped land located in the periphery, but those desires went against Petro’s plans and strategies. After several public disputes between Bogotá and the national government (La

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

15. POT is an instrument of planning and development adopted by the law 388 of 1997. It is the technical tool a municipality possess to integrate the physical and socioeconomic planning aspects of its territory and to regulate the land uses. 16. 5.3% (116.562 units) according to the Multipurpose survey (Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, 2015)

17. Refer to Figure 21

Republica, 2013), the city ended up with only 11.000 available subsidies of the 40.000 promised initially by the “Minestry of Housing, City, and Territory” (MVCT) (El Tiempo, 2015). Out of those 11.000, the city only claimed 4.652, 3.885 were later allocated in projects outside the “enlarged centre”17. The lack of understanding between the actors involved (the National Government and the city of Bogotá) affected the effectiveness necessary to carry on with the plans of the municipality. The short amount of time established by the housing law to carry on with the Free Housing Program, and the political pressures and rivalries, weakened the overall development of the strategy in Bogotá, shortening the opportunities to provide quality housing solutions to more families.

FIGURE 21: Bogotá’s projects and enlarged centre

FIGURE 22: Projects in Bogotá.

Source: The author

Economics The lack of resources, have also altered this panorama. To this date, out of the 18 projects, only 5 have been delivered (three of them managed directly from the MVCT), and 4 are under construction. The remaining 8, are still in the initial stages of licencing and design. In the case of Bogotá, the value of the land is the most expensive item to be considered. If well most of the projects are outside the “expanded centre”, the plots of land are located in urbanized land with available infrastructure and services, a factor that raises the prices if compared to peripheral non-urbanized areas. The amount of money given by the MVCT in the form of “Family Housing Subsidies in Kind” (SFVE)18 has a set price of 70 “Legally Effective Monthly Minimum Salaries” (SMMLV)19 established by law, an equivalent of 45 million Pesos (15.248 Dollars) which is by far, less than the money necessary to acquire land in Bogotá and even more in the “Enlarged Centre”. Therefore, constructing the projects required adding money to the already available funds designated by the national government. In this case, 12 of the projects were designed through financial schemes that involved using the funds derived from the SFVE and the “Municipal Housing Subsidy in Kind” (SDVE), used in most of the cases to compensate for the price of land. The problem with this scheme is, that as the market prices of the land grow, the amount of money destined for the subsidies doesn’t grow with the same pace, meaning that the subsidies are not enough to cover for both the demand of houses and the price of the land. This specific fact poses challenges to the sustainability of the program in a city with the characteristics of Bogotá.

18. From the Free Housing Program 19. The minimum salary established by Law in Colombia for 2015 is of 644.350 Pesos (218 dollars approx.)

FIGURE 23: La Plaza de la Hoja

Source: https://www.habitatbogota.gov.co/sdht/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1665&Itemid=762

Connectivity As mentioned above, of the 18 projects to be constructed under the Free Housing Program, 16 of them are outside the main development area determined by the local administration for their construction and only two of them are inside this area, La Plaza de la Hoja and Victoria both constructed in publicly own plots of land (figure 21). Although all the projects have access to basic public services and medium and small scale-facilities (schools, hospitals, commerce), there are aspects that depict the difficulties these projects can face, when speaking about the processes of adaptation to the new conditions.

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

16. From the Free Housing Program 17. The minimum salary stablished by Law in Colombia in 2015 is of 644.350 Pesos (218 dollars approx.)

20. A public policy formalized by law since 1994.

21. The system has been successful in generating funds to provide public services, transportation links, schools and health, but it has reinforced the differences based on income in the city.

FIGURE 24: Stratification

In this point, it is important to highlight that Colombian cities use a stratification system20 â&#x20AC;&#x153;to classify urban areas in six different strata according to the quality of the houses and the surrounding urban environment. The system works as a cross subsidy scheme in which the people living in the sixth and fifth strata have a surcharge in the payment of public services and taxes to subsidize the people living in first, second and third strataâ&#x20AC;? (Mosquera, 2014, p.3). The projects constructed under the Free Housing Program will be classified in the first strata for a 10-year period of time, regardless of the location of the plot. La Plaza de la Hoja project is located within an area surrounded by 3 and 4 strata houses. During the construction of the houses, the neighbours expressed their fear about the arrival of displaced people. According to them, the crime and delinquency rates were going to grow because of their presence (Kien y ke, 2013). Although the municipality knew how to decrease the resistance of the neighbours by keeping them informed about the process, the situation does raise some doubts on the strength of the strategy to help this families grow economically and guarantee their permanence in the area. Although this dissertation does not try to discuss the effects the stratification system has had in the Colombia society, it is important acknowledge its effects in a city like BogotĂĄ21 . The proper work from the municipality supporting these communities can guarantee more tolerant environments from both sides and a longer and more satisfying permanence of them in the area.

Source: The author

Diversity The search for economic models of development, has stopped constructors from exploring the right relation between the systems of construction and the housing typologies that enable the appearance of adaptable and progressive solutions (Torch贸pulos and Ceballos, 2003). Given the diverse nature of the households benefited by this program, the projects should propose alternatives able to adapt to the composition of the households. This dissertation has emphasised the heterogeneous nature of Colombia. The families that are going to be living in these projects come from places located all over the national territory. It is not clear how the projects are responding to this important aspect. Nor the design or follow up programs evidence the importance of integrating these different households within the city context, without erasing their social values or cultural expressions.

FIGURE 21: The pr President and Vice-president during a raffle

Source: http://www.vicepresidencia.gov.co/prensa/2014/Paginas/100-mil-hogares-clase-media-podran-comprar-vivienda-con-apoyo-del-Gobierno-Nacional-141028.aspx

Time/process Although the projects in Bogot谩 are too young to be subject of an analysis based of time. It is noticeable that right now there are not strong guidelines to support the social processes related to the adaptation of the communities to their new lives. Currently, there are municipal entities working dispersedly in different fronts (security, convivial strategies, education, health and recreation) but not with the same intensity in all the projects. Another fact that might disrupt the continuity of those processes, is the upcoming change of administration22 . New inputs might benefit the urban and social process but might also be prejudicial for them.

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

22. Mayoral elections will be held in October 2015

FIGURE 27: Villa Karen

FIGURE 28: Porvenir 55

FIGURE 29: La Plaza de la Hoja

FIGURE 31: La Plaza de la Hoja, green rooftop

FIGURE 30: Render Victoria

FIGURE 32: Arborizadora Kr 38

Source: https://www.habitatbogota.gov.co/sdht/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1665&Itemid=762

2. Cartagena de Indias, Bolivar Cartagena de Indias, is a Cultural and tourist city located on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. The beauty of its well-preserved historic centre contrasts with the poverty of the settlements surrounding it. The study done by the Network of cities “Como Vamos” showed that among all the 13 biggest urban centres of Colombia, Cartagena is the one with the highest rates of monetary poverty (29.2%)23. That poverty is clearly evident in the space (figure 37) and is supported by a heavy class and race based environments of discrimination.

23. According to DANE, during 2013, satisfying the basic needs of each member of the household cost 96.422 pesos (31 dollars approx.), based on that amount, the line of poverty is calculated.

FIGURE 33: Cartagena, two cities

Source: Semana, 2014

Institutional roles and responsabilities In Cartagena, 1220 housing units have been already delivered to both families living in high-risk areas and victims of the conflict, in two projects, Villas de Aranjuez and Ciudad del Bicentenario. The 896 housing solutions located in Ciudad del Bicentenario are part of the “National Social Interest Macro-project” (MINS) with the same name. As explained in chapter two, the MINS were created by the National Government as public-private alliances to transform non-urbanized land into big scale social housing projects, accompanied by the necessary infrastructure and facilities. Although the MINS appeared as a response of the government to the failure of housing policies during the last three decades (Caleidoscopios Urbanos, 2009), their application is not clearly showing a different approach to housing issues. Being instruments of higher hierarchy that the POTs and headed by the national government to deal with strategic regional problems, their execution in the municipalities they are attached to, can solve problems of quantitative nature but structural problems like segregation, inequality, classism and racism, are left on the background with no clear solutions.

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

FIGURE 34: Projects in Cartagena de Indias 1 2

PROJECT CIUDADELA EL BICENTENARIO VILLAS DE ARANJUEZ

TIPE * PRIVATE PRIVATE

STATUS DELIVERED DELIVERED

MANAGEMENT MVCT MVCT

FINANCING UNITS SFVE 896 SFVE 324 TOTAL 1220

M2 45

BENEFICIARIES RISK AND CONFLICT RISK AND CONFLICT

FIGURE 35: Cartagena, location of the projects

FIGURE 36: Ciudad del Bicentenario

Source: The author

Source:The author

Source: El Universal, 2013

Economics In the case of Cartagena the MISN is being developed by the Fundación Julio Mario Santo Domingo, a non-profit organization part of one of the biggest economic consortiums of the country. The CONPES 358324 of 2009 identified the need to define business schemes able to reinforce the participation of the private sector in the construction of housing through burden and expenditure25 systems. It also identified the need to align the resources of the SFV with the resources destined by the National government to support the Macro-projects. Following those guidelines Ciudad del Bicentenario is being constructed with the financial support of the MVCT through the SFVE, other ministries in the constructions of facilities and the private sector as the main executors of the plans. Connectivity Among the projects in the three cities analysed, Cartagena’s are the ones located farther away. This dissertation has defined exclusion as a process that prevents the participation of some individuals in the normal processes of the societies in which they live (Madanipour, 1998). Having Cartagena strongly spatially manifested problems of segregation and racism (Figure 37), it would be expected from the program to propose housing solutions that responded to the problematic or at least were intended to do so by propitiating encounters between different sectors of the population. Rather the projects are following the previously established patterns of segregation. The cycles of poverty are in many cases strengthened by the lack of opportunities that a strongly divided city denies. In that sense, finding solutions for the housing problems, should go beyond providing a housing unit. The house should be the starting point of an integration process in which equal opportunities are created for all Cartageneros.

24. Document created by the “National Council of economic and social politics” (CONPES). A consultant organism responsible for studying and recommending policies to the government (El Tiempo, 2014) 25. Usually the private developers receive from the National Government cheaper non-urbanized land that is going to be provided with infrastructure and facilities in which to develop VIP housing.

FIGURE 37: Percentage of low income people in Cartagena

Source: The author based on information from Banco de la Republica

Diversity The analysis has shown that neither the projects in Bogotá or Montería have taken into consideration the multiple family compositions. Cartagena is not different. Although according to information provided by the MVCT the houses in Villas de Aranjuez are expandable up to 45 sq. meters more, the conditions for that expansion are not specified. Aside from that, the design does not consider any environmental preconditions. If compared, the projects built here could be easily located in Bogotá, even if the weather and idiosyncrasy of its people are completely different, that aspect alone denotes the lack of interest in creating projects adapted to the particularities of the region.

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Time/process With this panorama, it is difficult to visualize the future of social housing in a city with the characteristics of Cartagena. Coexistance problems (El Universal, 2014), and high levels of insecurity and vandalism (El Unversal, 2015), are among the most common reported problems in both El Bicentenario and Villas de Aranjuez. The solutions found by the municipality are temporary. Investing in more security equipment or guards, instructing the community about their duties, creating art workshops, all necessary, given the situation, but a long-term strategy to deal with the root of this problem is not evident. The post-conflict scenarios Colombian cities are transforming into, require seeing housing as a piece of an equation in which quality education, job opportunities, appropriate health services and recreation need to be equally added to propitiate inclusion. Figure 38: Ciudad El Bicentenario, housing units

FIGURE 39: Beneficiaries of the project Villas de Aranjuez

Source: El Universal 2013

Source: http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/entregan-370-casas-en-villas-de-aranjuez-143048

Conclusions With the possibility of having a settle way out of the conflict, Colombia faces one of its biggest challenges: to transform its cities into inclusive scenarios in which to build peace. Indirectly Colombian cities and overall Colombian society have been transformed by conflict. The effects war has had of them, has defined their particularities and their complexities. With the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Free Housing Programâ&#x20AC;?, the National government is making a laudable effort to compensate and recognize the rights of a sector of the population that during the last decades of conflict had been forgotten and rendered invisible. Although it is impossible to argue against the effectiveness of the program in quantitative aspects , it is true that during 60 years of non-stop conflict, more than seven million people have been directly affected. The acknowledgement of this fact makes the program look as a palliative measure of reduced scope (Deslinde, 2014). The complex set of social inequalities that are strengthened by the effects conflict has on cities, require looking at the problematic with a multidimensional perspective, able to articulate social and economic policies with housing needs (Ibid). Having that on mind, this dissertation tried to analyse to what extend the Free Housing Program is a catalyst for inclusion during a post-conflict scenario. The analysis has shown, that although the state introduced new guidelines to regulate the provision of social housing, and through that reclaimed in a minimum way its position as guarantor of quality aspects, the whole process of providing housing for low income sectors of the population seems to be the continuation of previous decades market-based mechanisms, in which the construction, quality and location of the solutions are regulated by price and availability of land dynamics. The search for cheaper options, has led to the homogenization of projects. That standardization ignores the diverse nature of Colombian cities. The heterogeneity of Colombian territory, composed of six geographic regions that could be separate countries, if analysed by their physical characteristics and cultural expressions, problematize picturing that single scenario. To talk about cities and post-conflict in the Colombian context means to understand, that urban realities are multiple and diverse with problems even more complicated than war itself (Universidad Nacional, 2013). That diversity and multiplicity are not only present in social, economic and political expressions but are undeniable related with the physicality of the territory and the idiosyncrasy of its people. The analysis showed that although the projects met the basic requirements set by the MVCT, almost all the solutions were completely detached from the physical and social realities of the cities in which they were built, weather, vegetation, cultural manifestations, sources of income, among others. Stepping ahead of the uniformities market imposes requires making a statement that acknowledge singularities and differences as catalysts for change (Gaffikin et al, 2011).

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

The construction of a durable and stable peace not only depends on the agreements made with the armed groups. It is crucial to change the way in which the problems of this post-conflict scenario are addressed. By altering the formally established structures and processes and giving them new meaning, inclusionary mechanisms are enabled. When housing is perceived as one of the drivers of that change, it becomes an active constructor of peace, â&#x20AC;&#x153;an expanding habit of solidarity, a practical but unsettled achievement, constantly building on experiments through which difference and multiplicity can be mobilised for common gain and against harm and wantâ&#x20AC;? (Madanipour, 2006). A strong participation of the state is crucial to secure not only a tangible peace but the possibility of having multiple scenarios connected among them through the strong presence of an institutional instrument, able to guaranty that the solutions are in concordance with the citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs, municipal and governmental plans and market interests. It was out of the scope of this dissertation to discuss about the participation of other actors, due to the top-down nature of the program, but guaranteeing that the demands of this complex scenario are addressed, requires the participation of all citizens, as the ones able to agree on solutions that benefit all stakeholders and infuse the processes with the richness derived from having different perspectives and sources of knowledge (Raeymaekers, 2013). Hence, the relation of the institutions with the people should be seen as a channelling mechanism able to create socially cohesive models through non simplistic solutions in which the problems and challenges of this post-conflict scenario are seen and addressed in a transformative way.

FIGURE 40: Villas de San Pablo, Barranquilla

Source: Giovanni Escudero

List

figures

FIGURE 1: Publicity board in Sonsón, Antioquia

FIGURE 2: Analytical framework

FIGURE 3: Peasants demonstration in Antioquia

FIGURE 4: The conflic throughout history

FIGURE 5: Displacement in numbers

FIGURE 6: Housing policy throughout history

FIGURE 7: Components of the Integral policy

FIGURE 8: Free housing program in the Colombian territory

FIGURE 9: Project development mechanism

FIGURE 10: Housing delivery in Chaparral, Tolima

FIGURE 11: Location of the cities.

FIGURE 12: Montería

FIGURE 13: Projects in Montería

FIGURE 14: Urbanización El Recuerdo

FIGURE 15: Location of the projects in Montería

FIGURE 16: Urbanización La Gloria

FIGURE 17: Closest facilities

FIGURE 18: Housing typologies in Montería

FIGURE 19: Urbanización Finzenú

FIGURE 20: Urbanización El Recuerdo

FIGURE 21: Bogotá’s projects and enlarged centre

FIGURE 22: Projects in Bogotá.

FIGURE 23: La Plaza de la Hoja

FIGURE 24: Stratification

FIGURE 21: The pr President and Vice-president during a raffle

FIGURE 27: Villa Karen

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

FIGURE 29: La Plaza de la Hoja

FIGURE 31: La Plaza de la Hoja, green rooftop

FIGURE 28: Porvenir 55

FIGURE 30: Render Victoria

FIGURE 32: Arborizadora Kr 38

FIGURE 33: Cartagena, two cities

FIGURE 34: Projects in Cartagena de Indias

FIGURE 36: Ciudad del Bicentenario

FIGURE 35: Cartagena, location of the projects

FIGURE 37: Percentage of low income people in Cartagena

Figure 38: Ciudad El Bicentenario, housing units

FIGURE 39: Beneficiaries of the project Villas de Aranjuez

FIGURE 40: Villas de San Pablo, Barranquilla

FIGURE 41: Armed groups

References Books, articles and publications Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, (2015), “Encuesta Multipropósito”, Bogotá Amin, A., (2006) “The good city”, Urban studies, Vol.43, (5/6), pp.1009-1023 Anzellini Fajardo, S., et al., (2012) “La vivienda digna en Colombia: Una deuda pendiente”, in Samper, M., and O’Byrne, M., “Casa + casa = ¿Ciudad?, Bogotá: Ediciones Uniandes, pp. 252 - 269 Bridge, G., and Watson, S., (2011) “Reflections on Division and Difference” in Bridge, G., Watson, S., “The new Blackwell companion to the city”, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 501-510 Badescu, G., (2014) “City makers, urban reconstruction and coming to terms with the past in Sarajevo” in “Re-constructing Sarajevo, Negotiating Socio-political complexity”, LSE Cities program Banco de la Republica, (2007), “La pobreza en Cartagena: Un análisis por barrios”, Cartagena de Indias Boano, C., Martén, R., (2012), “Agamben’s urbanism of exception: Jerusalem’s border mechanics and biopolitical strongholds”, Cities, Vol. 34, pp. 6-17 Brenner, N., and Theodore, N., (2010), “Cities and the geographies of ‘Actually existing Neoliberalism”, in Bridge, G., and Watson, S., “The Blackwell city reader”, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 411 - 418 Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica, (2013) “¡Basta ya! Colombia: Memorias de Guerra y Dignidad” Bogotá Emerson, M., (2013), “Interculturalism: Europe and its Muslims in search of sound societal models”, in “Justino, P., Brück, T., Verwimp, P., (2013), “A micro- level perspective on the dynamics of conflict, violence, and development”, [online] [Available at http://www.oxfordscholarship.com.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199664597.001.0001/acprof-9780199664597-chapter-6], Oxford, pp. 30-49 Escallón, C., and Rodríguez, D., (2010), “Las preguntas por la calidad de la vivienda: ¿Quién las hace?, ¿Quién las responde?” In Dearq 06, Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, pp 6-19 Escallón, C., (2011), “La vivienda de interés social en Colombia, principios y retos”, Bogotá; Revista de Ingeniería, # 35, Universidad de los Andes

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Ferguson, B., Smets, P., Mason, D., (2014), “The new political economy of affordable housing finance and urban development”, in Bredenoord, J., Lindert, P., and Smets, P., “Affordable housing in the urban global south”, New York: Urban Routledge, pp. 40 – 54 FINDETER, (2015), “Plan de acción 2032, Montería sostenible de cara al Sinú”, Bogotá Gaffiking, F., and Morrissey, M., (2011), “Planning in divided cities, Collaborative Shaping of contested space” Blackwell publishing Gilbert, A. (2013), “Free housing for the poor: An effective way to address poverty?”, Habitat International, pp. 253 - 261 Gilbert, A. (2014), “Housing policy in Colombia” in Bredenoord, J., Lindert, P., and Smets, P., “Affordable housing in the urban global south”, New York: Urban Routledge, pp. 256 - 269 Hills, J., Le Grand, J., Piachaud, D., (2002), “Understanding Social Exclusion”, Oxford: Oxford University Press Justino, P., Brück, T., Verwimp, P., (2013), “A micro- level perspective on the dynamics of conflict, violence, and development: A new analytical framework”, in “Justino, P., Brück, T., Verwimp, P., (2013), “A micro- level perspective on the dynamics of conflict, violence, and development”, Oxford, pp. 3-29 Lahoud, A., (2010) “Post Traumatic Urbanism”, Architectural Design, Vol.80 (5), pp: 14-23. Madanipur, A., Cars, G., Allen, J., (1998), “Social Exclusion in European Cities: Processes, Experiences and Responses”, London: Regional Studies Association Madanipour, A., (1998), “Social Exclusion and Space” in “Social Exclusion in European Cities: Processes, Experiences and Responses”, London: Regional Studies Association, pp. 75 – 89 Madanipour, A., (2006), “Roles and challenges of urban design”, Journal of urban design, Vol. 11 (2), pp.173 - 193 Marcuse, P., et. al. (2009), “Searching for a just city. Debates on Urban theory and Practice”. London: Routledge. McGuirk, J., (2014), “Radical Cities, across Latin America in search of new architecture” London: Verso Ministerio de Vivienda Ciudad y Territorio, (2014) “Colombia: 100 años de políticas habitacionales”, Bogotá Mosquera, N., (2014), “Bogota, the stratified city”, Unpublished essay, University College London, London, Uk

Musterd, S. and Ostendorf, W., (1998) “Segregation, polarisation and social exclusion in metropolitan areas” Naranjo Giraldo, N., (2001) “El desplazamiento forzado en Colombia. Reinvención de la identidad e implicaciones en las culturas locales y nacionales”, Barcelona, Scripta Nova, Vol. 94 (1) Pécault, D., (1999) “La pérdida de los derechos, del significado de la experiencia y de la inserción social. A propósito de los desplazados en Colombia”, Medellín, Estudios Políticos, Vol. 14, p. 13-31 Piquard, B., Swenarton, M., (2011), “Learning from Architecture and Conflict”, The Journal of Architecture, Vol. 16(1), pp. 1-13. Raeymaekers, T., (2013), “The social geography of armed conflict” in “Justino, P., Brück, T., Verwimp, P., (2013), “A micro- level perspective on the dynamics of conflict, violence, and development”, Oxford, pp. 30-49 Red de ciudades Como Vamos, (2015), “Informe de calidad de vida, comparado en 14 ciudades Colombianas”, Bogotá Sanchez Stainer, L., (2008), “Éxodos rurales y urbanización en Colombia, perspectiva histórica y aproximaciones teoricas” Bogotá: Bitácora, Vol. 13 (2), pp. 57 - 72 Smets, P., and Salman, T., (2008), “Countering urban segregation: Theoretical and policy innovations from around the globe”, Urban studies, pp. 1307 – 1332 Torchópulos Sierra, D., and Ceballos, O., (2003), “Formas de crecimiento urbano en Bogotá: Patrones urbanísticos y arquitectónicos en la vivienda dirigida a sectores de bajos ingresos”, Barcelona, Scripta Nova, Vol VII N. 146 (077) Moya Rodríguez, A., and Harker Roa, A., (2015), “Semillas de apego para proteger a la primera infancia afectada por el desplazamiento y la violencia”, Bogotá: Tribuna, revista de asuntos públicos, N. 11, pp. 09 - 15 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, (2013), “Debates Universidad Nacional, Relatoría Ciudad y posconflicto”, Bogotá Zetter, R., Boano, C., (2009) “Space and place after natural disaster and forced displacement” in Lizarralde, G., Johnson, C., Davidson, C., (2010) “Rebuilding after disasters. From emergency to sustainability”, Routhledge, pp. 206-230 Zetter, R., Purdekova, A., Ibañez Londoño, A.M., (2013), “Violence, conflict and mobility: A micro-level analysis” in “Justino, P., Brück, T., Verwimp, P., (2013), “A micro- level perspective on the dynamics of conflict, violence, and development”, Oxford, pp. 206-227

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Laws and Policies Alcaldía Mayor de Bogotá, (2012), “Plan de Desarrollo 2012 – 2016”, Bogotá Congreso Nacional de la Republica de Colombia, (2012), “Ley 1450 de 2011”, [online], [Avalible at http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/normas/Norma1. jsp?i=43101], accesed on: 27th August 215 Congreso Nacional de la Republica de Colombia, (2012), “Ley 1537 de 2012”, [online], [Avalible at http://wsp.presidencia.gov.co/Normativa/Leyes/Documents/ ley153720062012.pdf], accesed on: 27th August 215 CONPES, (2009), “Documento CONPES 3583”, [online], [Avaliable at https://www. minambiente.gov.co/images/normativa/conpes/2009/conpes_3583_2009.pdf], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Departamento Administrativo para la Prosperidad Social, (2013), “Resolución 00010 de 2013”, [Avalible at http://www.minvivienda.gov.co/ResolucionesVivienda/00010%20-%202013.pdf], accesed on: 27th August 215 Presidente de la Republica de Colombia, (2012), “Decreto 1921 de 2012”, [online], [Avalible at http://www.alcaldiabogota.gov.co/sisjur/normas/Norma1.jsp?i=49407], accesed on: 27th August 215

Press and Websites Agencia de noticias Universidad Nacional, (2013), “Costos de permanencia, el reto de las viviendas gratuitas”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.agenciadenoticias.unal.edu.co/ndetalle/article/costos-de-permanencia-el-reto-de-las-viviendas-gratuitas.html], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Caleidoscopios Urbanos, (2009), “Los macroproyectos de interés social nacional”, [online], [Avaliable at http://caleidoscopiosurbanos.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/ los-macroproyectos-de-interes-social.html], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Deslinde, (2014), “El continuismo de la política neoliberal de vivienda durante el gobierno de Juan Manuel Santos”, [online], [Avaliable at http://deslinde.co/el-continuismo-de-la-politica-neoliberal-de-vivienda-durante-el-gobierno-de-juan-manuel-santos/], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Dinero, (2012), “Programa de las 100 mil viviendas gratis comenzó en Cordoba”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.dinero.com/actualidad/noticias/articulo/programa-100-mil-viviendas-gratis-comenzo-cordoba/164408], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Dinero, (2013), “Viviendas gratis, ¿si son sostenibles?”, [online], [Avaliable at http:// www.dinero.com/pais/articulo/viviendas-gratis-sostenibles/180075], accesed on: 27th August 2015

El Colombiano, (2013), “Desplazados acrecientan problemas sociales en Montería, Carlos Correa”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.elcolombiano.com/desplazados_ acrecientan_problemas_sociales_en_monteria_carlos_correa-HEEC_239608], accesed on: 27th August 2015 El Espectador, (2014), “La otra cara de las viviendas gratis”, [online], [Avalible at http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/nacional/otra-cara-de-viviendas-gratis-articulo-520618], accesed on: 27th August 2015 El Heraldo, (2015), “El buen momento de Montería”, [online], [Avaliable at http:// www.elheraldo.co/cordoba/el-buen-momento-de-monteria-193837], accesed on: 27th August 2015 El Tiempo, (2004), “El papel que desempeña el CONPES”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-1594532], accesed on: 27th August 2015 El Tiempo, (2015), “Meta de 70.000 viviendas VIP será difícil de cumplir”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.eltiempo.com/bogota/viviendas-vip-en-bogota/15264421], accesed on: 27th August 2015 El Universal, (2013), “Se necesitan más que casas en Ciudad Bicentenario”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/local/se-necesitan-mas-que-casas-en-ciudad-bicentenario-121731], accesed on: 27th August 2015 El Universal, (2015), “Invierten en seguridad para el proyecto Ciudad del Bicentenario”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.eluniversal.com.co/cartagena/invierten-en-seguridad-para-el-proyecto-ciudad-del-bicentenario-143977], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Kien y Ke, (2013), “No queremos vivir con desplazados”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.kienyke.com/historias/no-queremos-vivir-con-desplazados/], accesed on: 27th August 2015 La Republica, (2013), “Nuevo round entre Nación y Distrito por casas”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.larepublica.co/economia/nuevo-round-entre-naci%C3%B3n-y-distrito-por-casas_40587], accesed on: 27th August 2015 La Silla Vacia, (2012), “Viviendas gratis en Bogotá desnudan los retos del proyecto petro”, [online], [Avaliable at http://lasillavacia.com/historia/las-viviendas-gratis-en-bogota-desnudan-los-retos-del-proyecto-de-petro-36261], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Periferia Prensa, (2014), “¿Bogotá, lista para el posconflicto?”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.periferiaprensa.com/index.php/ed-action/1435-bogota-lista-para-el-posconflicto], accesed 26th June 2015 Radio Santa fe, (2013), “Universidad Nacional cuestiona viviendas de interés social del gobierno; afirma que son pequeñas e inhumanas” [online], [Avaliable at

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

http://www.radiosantafe.com/2015/04/29/universidad-nacional-cuestiona-viviendas-de-interes-social-del-gobierno-afirma-que-son-pequenas-e-inhumanas/], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Razón Pública, (2011), “¿Qué hacer con Cordoba?”, [online], [Avaliable at http:// www.razonpublica.com/index.php/regiones-temas-31/1794-ique-hacer-con-cordoba.html], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Semana, (2014), “Cartagena, dos ciudades”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/cartagena-dos-ciudades/406343-3], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Semana, (2015), “Cual es el cuento de Montería” [online], [Avaliable at http://www. semana.com/nacion/articulo/cual-es-el-cuento-de-monteria/424539-3], accesed on: 27th August 2015 Urna de cristal, (2012), “Abecé de la Ley de Vivienda de Interés Prioritario”, [online], [Avaliable at http://www.urnadecristal.gov.co/gestion-gobierno/abece-de-ley-de-vivienda-de-interes-prioritario], accesed on: 27th August 2015

Appendix APPENDIX 1: The Colombian conflict FIGURE 41: Armed groups

Source: The author

Period 1 The transition from a bipartite violence to a subversive one, and as a consequence, the proliferation of guerrilla groups, characterized the first period (1958 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1982). During those years the migration to the cities responded in majority to the desire of having better life conditions in the new growing urban centres, a fact that is going to mark a difference when contrasting this period with latter ones in which the violent dispossession of land becomes a constant.

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

Period 2 During the second period, between 1982 and 1996, guerrilla groups gained political projection, grew militarily and expanded over the Colombian rough territory. At the same time paramilitary groups were born as a response of a partially collapsed state to alleviate the burden set on the military forces. The irruption and propagation of drug trafficking and the later acknowledgement of it in the global agenda, changed the dynamics of the conflict and distorted the ideals and aims of the fight. The search for new cultivation areas propitiated fights over the structures of land ownership, causing new migration waves (Sanchez, L., 2008). The insertion to the cities of displaced people as new urban poor produced the expansion and densification of the cities towards the periphery.

Third period During the third period, between 1996 and 2005 the guerrilla and paramilitary groups expanded simultaneously elevating the violence levels to their highest points. According to CODHES during the period between 1985 and 2006 almost 3.9 million of Colombians were displaced, and alarming fact, if it’s taken into consideration that it counts as almost 10% of the 42 million of inhabitants the country had in 2005.

Fourth period During the fourth period the military actions of the state, marked the highest ‘successes’ in the fight against armed groups. Reordering the structures of war and making guerrillas weak but not defeating them. At the same time the failed negotiation process with the paramilitary groups ended with the conformation of new armed groups with highly fragmented and changing structures, strongly permeated by drug trafficking and very pragmatic in their criminal actions.

26. Law 1448 of 2011 27. According to FONVIVIENDA out of the 122.666 “Family Subsidies in Kind” (SVFE) available between 2004 and 2011, 76.569 had been disbursed and 45.897 were still to be released

APPENDIX 2: Colombian Housing Policy Is an institutional response to the next specific facts: A) the rulings of the Constitutional court that along with the compromises contained in the Victims and Land Restitution Law26 , ordered to prioritize both groups in the public policies and provide them with worthy housing solutions. B) The high amount of non-disbursed subsidies27 in the hands of the “National Housing Fund” (FONVIVIENDA)28 and the “Family Welfare funds” (CCF’s)29 . And C) The negative evaluations done

independently by the “Inter-American Development Bank” (IDB) and the academy, putting in doubt the effectiveness of the “Family Housing Subsidy” (SFV) due to the reduced number of households who achieved the disbursement of the subsidy, as access to credit and savings were necessary to fulfil the requirements (MVCT, 2014).

APPENDIX 3: The 100.000 free houses program

28. FONVIVIENDA is a public institution, part of the ministry of the MVCT responsible of the administration of the resources destined for the SFVE. 29. CCF’s are part of the Social Security system, and their mission is to provide services for the formally employed populations.

1. Selection of the beneficiaries The selection process of the beneficiaries is contained in the 1921 of 2012 MVCT decree. “The constructors need to have had a minimum of five years’ experience in the building industry and not to have been blacklisted. The projects themselves have to be approved on the basis of the services provided, the layout of the development and the size and quality of the homes. A point system determines which projects will be accepted” (Gilbert, 2013).

The gratuity of the solutions is obtained in a model in which the MVCT defines through resolution the financial resources that out of the national budget are going to be assigned to FONVIVIENDA and other territorial entities related to housing matters. The resources are transferred to the autonomous equities that those entities constitute through the conformation of commercial trusts in which by the operation of contracts, any national level entity with territorial interest and or any natural or juridical person, private, public and, international cooperation organizations can transfer properties and donate resources. FONVIVIENDA gives the “Department for Social Prosperity” (DPS), the information of the selected projects according to the municipality in which the project will be developed, the number of housing solutions to be transferred in the form of SFVE’s and the percentages of population composition.

The identification of potential inhabitants of the projects is done using the following lists or data-bases, the Network for overcoming extreme poverty, (UNIDOS) , the “System of identification of potential beneficiaries of the social programs”, (SISBEN III) and, the “Register of displaced population” (RUPD). The DPS selects the potential beneficiaries taking into account the percentages of housing units available in each population group (population inscribed in social programs with the aim of overcoming extreme poverty; displaced population; population affected by emergencies, public calamities or natural disasters; and population living in high risk areas). For each group the DPS verifies in first order that the households are part of UNIDOS. If there are housing units available in the population group the DPS will then fill the spaces with households that are included

Social housing as a strategy for strengthening inclusion in a post-conflict scenario

30. UNIDOS: “It is a strategy for extreme poverty alleviation. Its main goal is to assure that the poorest families can access the programs they are eligible for. There are 26 government entities working towards that goal” 31. SISBEN III: “It is an information system design by the national government to identify potential families to be beneficiaries of social programs.”

in the SISBEN III data-base. The population groups for displaced populations are conformed using the next criteria. The first priority is given to households that had formerly been benefited with an urban SFV assigned by FONVIVIENDA that remains disbursed. Secondly, to households qualified to receive a subsidy according to the System of information for housing subsidies administrated by FONVIVIENDA and that have applied to the 2007 displaced population call. Third in order, displaced households in the data base of RUPD with no participation in any call targeted to displaced population. Lastly if there is a remaining number of housing solutions, the DPS uses the SISBEN III data-base, to complete the number missing households. Once finished this process, the list of households that fulfil the requirements is sent to the DPS, to begin with the selection process, considering the population groups, and the prioritizing criteria. If the houses conforming the first prioritizing group exceed the number of housing units available to be transferred to a population group, a lottery system is used among potential households in order to complete the number of housing units available in the project. If after this process there still are units available the same procedure will be done with the second prioritizing group and so on with the third. The selected households must be living in the municipality in which the housing project is located.

2. Responsibilities of the beneficiaries The beneficiaries of the SFVE must stay in the project for at least 10 years after receiving it. Once finished that period of time, if they want to sell the housing unit, they must offer it first to the entity that gave the SFVE.