An unprecedented alignment: state, finance, construction and housing production in Brazil since the 2000s

Abstract

This paper analyses the unprecedented alignment between State, finance and construction in Brazil during the 2000s that enabled large contractors and developers to produce increasing volumes of housing for middle and low-income families. It empirically describes a capitalist structure of housing production focused on the ‘economic segment’. This commonly-used real estate market term refers to housing units with prices of up to USD 100,000. In analytic terms, this segment blurred the boundaries between the production of social housing (promoted by the State) and the housing market. From 2009, this production model was incorporated into the programme known as Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life), which has since – following the example of other Latin American countries – dictated the direction of Brazilian housing policy towards large-scale production. The empirical data used in this research were collected through three strategies: (i) documentary research; (ii) analysis of primary and secondary databases; and (iii) field research in construction companies. The results indicate that sophisticated real estate-financial mechanisms were tied to the housing production, while continuing an industrial production base with archaic elements and a dependence on public subsidies and housing policy.