Chilean Housing Research Articles

Optimized thermal envelope of low-income dwellings in Santiago de Chile incorporating Pinus radiata wood impregnated with phase change materials

The demand for air conditioning and heating in the construction sector has increased in about two decades, mainly because of demographic and economic growth. The result of this increase in energy consumption has been more greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). This paper proposes a multi-objective optimization design that helps reduce heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) energy consumption and increases the thermal comfort levels in low-income housing. Achieving these objectives required choosing a dwelling unit that is representative of the Chilean housing stock, which was identified with the help of the National Housing Monitoring Network (ReNaM). The selected optimization variables correspond to the type of windows, type and thickness of ceiling insulation, and type of PCM-impregnated Pinus radiata wood panel, with PCM melting points between 8 and 27 °C. Subsequently, we minimized the hours of thermal discomfort and the dwelling typology's electrical consumption of heating and cooling by using the algorithm the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II). The main results include a reduction of up to 21.5 % in the thermal discomfort hours and a decrease of up to 80.5 % in energy consumption associated with the optimal housing typology compared to the base case. Additionally, the economic analysis indicated the payback period is 12.9 years for the Pareto solution, which presents a lower distance to the utopic point (UP).

Addressing housing deficits from a multi-dimensional perspective: a review of Chilean housing policy

After decades of battling the quantitative and qualitative housing deficits, Latin American countries are seeing new types of challenges in housing. Neoliberal policies favouring individual (low-cost) homeownership have weakened social trust and solidarity between neighbours, and some housing areas face poor urban amenities. An example of this is Chile, where housing policy measures have brought adverse effects such as deteriorating housing quality and the relocation of families to peripheral areas. This has caused the breakdown of family ties, community life, and social cohesion. Although various studies on the housing deficit in Chile have been carried out, these studies have not comprehensively addressed the multiple dimensions of housing. Therefore, this review explores how Chilean housing policies have addressed the housing deficit from four dimensions: quantitative, qualitative, urban, and social. To this end, we reviewed Chilean housing policies and programmes and their response to the housing deficit from the neoliberal period onwards. We found that these policies and interventions have focused on solving the quantitative and, to a lesser extent, qualitative and urban deficits while sparsely addressing the non-physical or intangible social dimension. We conclude this article with recommendations to address the social deficit of housing in future policies.

Is There Financialization of Housing Prices? Empirical Evidence from Santiago de Chile

This paper empirically examines the influence of financial factors on housing prices in Chile, given the relevance that arises from the important housing crisis that the country is going through and the scarce amount of literature on causal relationships between price and other variables for the case under study. The hypothesis is that different financial factors have a significant influence on the price of housing, while the price of housing acts as an attractor of financial investment due to its good profitability. To conduct the statistical test, a Granger causality test is applied to a weekly data series covering the years 2009–2018. The results indicate that the causality hypothesis is plausible. On the one hand, the role of international stock market influences housing prices in Chile. Also, the Chilean Central Bank has a significant causality relationship with the housing prices. The structure of the article is organised with a second section devoted to explaining the methods and data used for the test, followed by the results analysed and discussed in the third section and closing conclusions that allow for further research and policy implications of the findings. These findings are valuable to complexify the Chilean housing policy by incorporating financial variables.

Towards low-carbon housing in Chile: Optimisation and life cycle analysis of energy-efficient solutions

Significant action is needed across the Chilean housing sector to reduce energy consumption and meet climate change mitigation goals. In this study, the performance of a typical house, an optimised house and a Passivhaus in various climates is evaluated and compared, considering eight distinct climatic zones of Chile. For the thermal optimisation of the house, an OpenBIM workflow between REVIT-CYPETHERM and EnergyPlus with JEPlus were interfaced to analyse over a thousand possible combinations of energy optimisation measures for each climate zone. Additionally, a Life Cycle Assessment is used to compare the cases studied. The results show that in the manufacturing stage, building a Passivhaus would have greater environmental impacts than a traditional house. Additionally, it is shown that in warm climatic zones, a thermally optimised house can have an energy performance equivalent to housing constructed to Passivhaus standards but with less environmental impacts in all its phases of the life cycle.

Comparative energy consumption and photovoltaic economic analysis for residential buildings in Santiago de Chile and Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic

This research compares the building energy consumption and the photovoltaic economic analysis between residential buildings in Santiago de Chile and Santo Domingo of the Dominican Republic. The methodology considered thermal simulation, sizing of a solar PV system, an economic analysis and CO2 emissions given the solar resources of both countries. A scenario where the constructive systems are switched between the countries was also analyzed. A comparison of the energy performances of the houses exposed to other climate conditions. Results show that housing in Santiago de Chile required less energy than housing in Santo Domingo due to the fact that the thermal transmittance of the enclosures of the Chilean housing has better thermal behavior, compared to the materials of the Dominican housing. Dominican houses need a higher amount of electricity for air cooling due to the high temperatures in the tropic. Meanwhile, Chilean countries requires a higher amount of gas for heating purposes. The Dominican Republic lacks thermal regulation for construction material, and applying Chilean standards in Dominican houses, helped to lower the yearly electricity demand by 19%. Dominican constructions materials improvement could have an important impact in the country's overall goal to lower CO2 emission and in-house energy savings. The economic analysis showed that the Dominican Republic renewable energies incentives contribute to the development of very attractive PV projects, meanwhile in Chile, the use of net metering instead of net billing could increase by 11 times the net present value of PV projects.

CHAARM: A model to predict uncertainties in indoor pollutant concentrations, ventilation and infiltration rates, and associated energy demand in Chilean houses

The housing stock of Chile is responsible for 15% of its total final energy consumption and so its Government is regulating the construction of dwellings. However, there is a need to establish models to help governments determine sensible guidance. This paper presents the Chilean Housing Archetypes AiR quality Model (CHAARM) and a stochastic framework for predicting uncertainties in indoor pollutant concentrations, ventilation and infiltration rates, and associated energy demand during the heating season. Pollutant sources are PM2.5 emitted by cooking and unflued heaters present in 80% of houses.CHAARM predicts that 66% of dwellings have a daily mean PM2.5 concentration below the WHO 24-hour guideline value of 25 μg/m3, even if their windows are always closed. Houses are not found to be airtight and 60% have Q50>10 m3 h−1 m-2. Dwelling ventilation and infiltration heat loss is estimated to be 0.25–42.3 MWh with 90% confidence, and to account for at least 15% of the estimated total energy demand of the stock. Therefore, many houses require remediation measures to improve their airtightness and to reduce their annual space heating demand. However, to avoid negative health effects from exposure to PM2.5, kitchen ventilation, such as a cooker hood, should be installed and unflued heaters should be replaced.

Housing Prices in Unregulated Markets: Study on Verticalised Dwellings in Santiago de Chile

Chile faces a housing affordability crisis, given that most of the population is unable to secure a house. While housing prices between 2008 and 2019 increased by 63.96%, wages only increased by 21.85%. This article presented an analysis of the housing price configuration for the main borough in the country—Santiago. The assessment focused on verticalised housing constructed between 2015 and 2019. The article developed an exploratory study on the price of housing in Santiago to generate a diagnosis to identify the role played by expectations of profitability when configuring price. Based on the information generated, we sought to contribute to the discussion on public policies that advance the development of affordable housing in central boroughs with high urban value, as is the case for Santiago’s borough of Greater Santiago. We hypothesised that profit expectation of real estate developers plays a key role in the housing prices, and an adjustment in the profit ratios might increase the affordability while keeping the housing market above profitable rates. This research addressed the lack of data transparency in the Chilean housing market with archival research, reconstructing costs and earnings from projects based on official registrations of transactions at the borough level. In Chile, the access to investment costs, land values, yields, and house price formation are not publicly available, even though these factors imply that many households are facing severe difficulties in paying for and accessing decent housing.

A data analysis of the Chilean housing stock and the development of modelling archetypes

Chile is a South American country experiencing greater social and economic development than the majority of its neighbours and whose economy is transitioning from developing to developed status. It is committed to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 35–45% by 2030, requiring national energy demand reduction. Chile's housing stock is responsible for 15% of its total final energy consumption and so its Government is regulating the construction of new dwellings, although it is difficult to know if this policy will succeed or lead to unintended consequences affecting energy demand, GHG emissions, and occupant health. Measuring the effects in situ is often time and cost prohibitive and so the simulation of archetypal buildings is a common method of investigation. A range of data sources, such as censuses and building permits, are used to develop archetypal Chilean houses with statistically significant representative values for design parameters related to energy demand and indoor air quality. It finds that 496 archetypes can represent 100% of the Chilean housing stock and only 90 can represent 95% of the stock. The archetypes can be used to predict and evaluate the impacts of policies on indoor air quality and the energy demand of a stock of houses, or to guide future data gathering exercises. The data analysis highlights knowledge gaps in categorical descriptors and occupant behaviours, and poor granularity of physical data. These gaps should be filled by augmenting national surveys and complimented by field work.

Rational bubbles in the real housing stock market: Empirical evidence from Santiago de Chile

In this paper we study the presence of rational bubbles in the IGP and IAR real housing stock indexes of Chile during the period 2003:01 to 2016:03 using a methodology based on fractionally integrated and cointegrated processes. Our findings suggest strong evidence in favour of bubbles in the Chilean housing stock market when no breaks are taken into account. Testing for structural breaks, three break dates are detected at 2007, 2011 and 2014, and the same evidence in favour of bubbles holds. This can be explained by the high level of debt of the Chilean people.

Chilean housing policy: a pendant human rights perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to analyse the Chilean housing policy from a human rights perspective. The work is based on the framework to study socio, economic and social rights as human rights developed by the current special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights to describe the steps undertaken by the Chilean State in terms of recognition, institutionalisation and accountability of the right to adequate housing.Design/methodology/approachFirst, the authors describe the different levels of legal recognition of the right and the lack of constitutional and legislative recognition in the different levels of the Chilean Legal System. Second, they analyse the Chilean Housing Policy and the institutionalisation of the different elements that compose the right to adequate housing, describing and critically reviewing the Chilean housing policy in the past 30 years. The final section analyses the accountability of such policy, taking into consideration the developments of international and regional mechanisms and the processes of accountability lead by civil society and tribunals.FindingsThe paper concludes that a human rights perspective of the right to adequate housing with legal recognition could improve the accountability, the results and development of the Chilean housing policy.Originality/valueThe importance of this paper is both empirical and theoretical. Empirically, this paper adds to the current understanding of housing policies in Chile, aiming to complete the narrative of housing laws at the national level. Theoretically, this paper uses for the first time a recognition, institutionalisation and accountability human rights approach to analyse the Chilean housing policies and its loopholes at the national level.

Retorno al campamento: resistencia y melancolía en los márgenes de la ciudad formal

This paper presents the main findings of research whose objective was to explore the experience of some residents within the Chilean housing policy context. Based on previous studies, this research analyzes the processes of subjectivisation experienced by a group of residents who, despite being provided with social housing from 1980 to 2000, decided to return to their former settlements. Qualitative social research and ethnographic methods were used to compile data for two settlements located in the municipalities of Lampa and San Bernardo, Santiago, for the period 2014 to 2015. This data was analyzed from a perspective of discourse analysis. It is suggested that the repopulation of settlements is a counter-movement to subjectivation processes generated by the provision of social housing, the result being the disruption of the housing process, the idealization of the past and the yearning for different recognition and inhabiting experiences. This paper analyzes the concept of return in the two senses of resistance and failure determined by the search for an impossible place that reflects the different wishes, frustrations and conflicts common to the experience of inhabiting the borders of the formal city.

Application of adaptive comfort behaviors in Chilean social housing standards under the influence of climate change

Currently, energy performance indicators for buildings are associated with the primary energy source consumption, CO2 emissions or net energy distribution, which together set the building’s energy efficiency. The evaluation is frequently based on setpoint temperatures and hours of operation. However, these fixed parameters are not suitable for social housing simulation as their performance tends to be in free running, excluding extremely cold or warm conditions. Therefore, a more successful assessment for the efficiency of these buildings is the users’ capability to live within adaptive comfort ranges without air conditioning systems. The aim of this research is to analyze new Chilean standards for sustainable social housing in the context of climate change using the adaptive comfort approach addressed in EN 15251:2007. Using EnergyPlus simulation software, 16 parametric series are analyzed for current conditions and validated against on-site measurements. Meanwhile, a prediction for the climate in 2050 has also been taken into account. The case study is the most widespread low cost dwelling model. The study demonstrates that the period of time within thermal comfort conditions varies substantially if analysis is done using the adaptive comfort standard or the Sustainable Construction Code (CCS) for Chilean housing. Considering climate change, the percentage of time fluctuates from −19.00% to 24.30%. Concluding that the adaptive comfort model has a greater capacity to positively assess indoor temperatures for social housing in Central-Southern Chile. This research also establishes that it is possible to provide homes where standards are improved within comfort conditions without using artificial means, 99.67% of the time currently and 88.89% in the future.

El problema y la política de vivienda en Chile: propuestas para una nueva perspectiva de análisis

El problema habitacional chileno ha sido estudiado casi exclusivamente fijando la mirada en el Estado y los sectores sociales de bajos ingresos. Muy poco se conoce sobre el rol que desempeñaron los empresarios y trabajadores de ingresos medios en las políticas de vivienda. Este texto propone integrar al análisis a dichos actores urbanos fundamentales con el objetivo de alcanzar un saber más complejo, integral y matizado. Para ello se centró el análisis en la primera política nacional de la vivienda (1952-1958). Las conclusiones confirman el supuesto recién señalado.

Gobernanza y redes de políticas públicas: el caso de la política habitacional chilena

En los últimos años las sociedades occidentales han experimentado profundos cambios con implicancias de distinta índole. El contexto actual se caracteriza por el dinamismo, complejidad y diversidad que solo admite una aproximación plural desde las distintas esferas de la sociedad. Ante este escenario, los gobiernos tradicionales, jerárquicos y centralizados no son suficientes ni tampoco idóneos para hacer frente a los nuevos problemas y desafíos contemporáneos. De ahí la importancia de contemplar las ideas y fundamentos que sustentan un enfoque de gobernanza democrática, el cual tiene la intención de atender las nuevas demandas y políticas públicas que las transformaciones sociales actuales requieren. Frente a lo anterior, se despliega el análisis de este trabajo que aborda el caso de la política habitacional chilena, específicamente el Programa Fondo Solidario de Vivienda (FSV). Desde este marco, el principal propósito de la investigación que sustenta este artículo, fue analizar el tipo de coordinación en red que se desarrolla en la fase de implementación de los proyectos habitacionales correspondientes al programa FSV en la Región Metropolitana (Chile) durante los años 2006 – 2010, desde un enfoque de gobernanza democrática y redes de políticas públicas.

Achieving a Socio-Spatial Mix? Prospects and Limitations of Social Housing Policy in Santiago de Chile

In the Chilean housing sector, the combination of free-market imperatives guiding investment decisions and a long tradition of social housing subsidies has generally had remarkable success in quantitative terms but has also contributed to the large-scale segregation of poor families on the urban periphery. With the goal of a better socio-spatial mix and, ultimately, social integration, the Chilean government recently revised its guidelines for housing subsidies, promoting small-scale social housing in central locations. This paper examines the early effects of this new housing policy in a cluster of the so-called “pericentral” municipalities in Santiago de Chile. Specifically, it raises the question of whether the policy has a chance of achieving its objectives in light of prevailing free-market conditions. We demonstrate strong interrelations between the current dynamics of real-estate investment and government-led housing programs which together continue to promote uneven socio-spatial development and segregation of the urban poor on a smaller scale.

Mejoras habitacionales en Chile, 1990-1998. Crecimiento económico y política social con elevada desigualdad de la renta

In 1991 Chile ended the military dictatorship and a democratic government took place eighteen years after the last one that was elected by means of the ballot box. The country was found with serious social and specially housing deficiencies, that were confronted in a moment of high growth in national income and a social housing policy focused on the poorest households. The results were praised by several international organizations. However, Chile has been characterized since then to present one of the most unequal income distributions in the world. Therefore, in this article the results of the Chilean housing policy between 1990 and 1998 is analyzed and the different levels of household income are considered taking into account income deciles. The results bring to discussion the need to consider the income inequality in policy analysis

Dynamic-MFA examination of Chilean housing stock: long-term changes and earthquake damage

The dynamics and metabolism of the built environment are important for understanding the construction, renovation and demolition activities that characterize its long-term physical development. Previous research on building stock development is limited, particularly for developing countries. As one of the most seismically active countries in the world, Chile's built environment is constantly subjected to losses. This study included earthquake vulnerability and damage in a dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) of the Chilean housing stock. Stock and flows of residential floor area were modelled using population and life style parameters. Demolition was modelled assuming a constant demolition rate. By characterizing the building stock according to vulnerability classes and establishing a mass balance per class, the effects of different typology distributions on the overall damage to the stock caused by earthquakes could be assessed. Scenarios with different trends in typology distribution for new construction and renovation suggest that significant potential exists for reducing future earthquake damage in the Chilean housing stock. This is best achieved by gradually reducing the vulnerability of buildings to earthquakes. Legislation, building standards and financial instruments could be used to ensure such reductions in earthquake damage and thereby provide socio-economic benefits in the future.

Boundary choice interdependency: evidence from the construction industry

Extant research on the theory of the firm has stressed the need to consider interdependencies when analyzing firm boundary choices. We study the existence of interdependencies between boundary decisions using a unique database that includes detailed organizational information on 59% of the construction projects undertaken in the Chilean housing sector between the years 2005 and 2009. Specifically, we show that integration between design and construction activities increases the likelihood of integration between ownership/development and construction activities (and vice versa). This result is of a large magnitude, supporting the view that boundary choices need to be studied in relation to each other. A careful identification strategy also allows us to shed light on the mechanisms that likely drive this interdependency: a �coordination effect,� a �transaction hazard effect,� and a �production effect.� The latter is shown to be the most important mechanism at work, suggesting that �boundary choice complementarity� is primarily motivated by the need to align investment incentives for the joint development of capabilities.

Evaluando el logro de los principios de la gestión de la calidad en empresas constructoras certificadas según ISO 9001:2000

Desde mediados de los anos noventa, las empresas constructoras habitacionales chilenas comenzaron a incorporar la gestion de calidad y han implementado sistemas de gestion de la calidad (en adelante SGC) optando principalmente, por utilizar las directrices dadas por la familia de normas ISO 9000. Las constructoras han invertido una gran cantidad de recursos, especialmente economicos y humanos, en implementar sus SGC con el fin de aumentar la satisfaccion de sus clientes a traves del mejoramiento de la calidad de sus procesos constructivos y de la calidad de las viviendas que construyen. Entonces, para ellos es muy importante saber si esta inversion esta dando los frutos que esperan. Por lo anterior, se realizo una investigacion para determinar el impacto real de los SGC en el desempeno de las empresas constructoras certificadas ISO 9001:2000 en cuanto al nivel de aplicacion de los principios de la gestion de la calidad sin considerar el impacto que puede generar la implementacion de otro tipo de normas como las de manejo ambiental y de prevencion de riesgos. Para lograrlo, se empleo un instrumento de medicion que consistio en una encuesta aplicada como entrevista personal, que fue respondida por 118 personas de 11 constructoras habitacionales chilenas, de un universo de 34 empresas certificadas ISO 9001:2000. Estas personas entregaron sus percepciones sobre el cumplimiento de los principios de gestion de la calidad en la empresa. El principal resultado de este estudio indica que las personas perciben que los principios de gestion de la calidad se estan aplicando de manera insuficiente. Rev. ing. constr. [online]. 2007, vol.22, n.3, pp. 197-213. ISSN 0718-5073. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-50732007000300006.

Análisis e incorporación de factores de calidad habitacional en el diseño de las viviendas sociales en Chile. Propuesta metodológica para un enfoque integral de la calidad residencial

The Chilean housing process prioritises a quantitative approach in the production of housing units as opposed to a qualitative one due to the urgency to respond to the housing deficit in the country. However, the importance of improving the quality of life in low-income settlements has become a major concern due to the poor quality of the products being offered by the government programmes and their inadequate capacity to respond the needs of the population. Based on a research which attempts to develop an integral approach to habitability, this paper first presents a brief description of the housing approach in the country. It then explains the conceptual framework for habitability and its translation to an ad hoc methodological proposal which could allow for normative and design proposals upon the analysis of the results of the research.