The right to housing under the new Latin American constitutionalism: progresses and challenges in the Ecuadorian case study

Abstract

In recent decades, most Latin American countries have had their constitutions substantially amended, and several countries have introduced new constitutions altogether. Ecuador’s new constitution came into effect in 2008 and, ever since, the society has shifted its traditional attitudes towards social rights, which had previously been undervalued and dismissed as mere subjective issues. Regarding housing as a basic human right, the promotion of social housing has been constitutionally guaranteed, and public policies have been set forth for that purpose. The present work will analyse: (1) the justice procedures set out in order to enforce habitat and housing rights, as brought to the fore in Ecuador since the advent of the 2008 Constitution; and (2) the public housing policies enforced, emphasising their historical constraints, financial aims, political potentialities, and actual outcomes, which in some cases were the reproduction of inequality.