A study by Fundação Getulio Vargas examined the Brazilian government’s Home Rental Program (known by Portuguese initials PAR), a public policy that preceded the My Home, My Life Program, and found it was effective at improving the housing conditions of shanty town residents. During PAR’s period, between 2000 and 2003, there was a reduction of 3.5 to 8.7 percentage points in dwellings classified as being part of shanty towns in the municipalities participating in the program.

By means of causal testing comparing municipalities participating in PAR and others that were not part of it, the study showed that not only did housing improve, but also urban infrastructure. In the municipalities that took part in PAR, the household waste collection rate went up 20.9 percentage points on average, while access to treated water increased 23.4 percentage points and access to electricity rose 13.8 percentage points. In addition, total revenue from municipal property tax (IPTU) increased 30.1 percentage points.

The study’s leader, FGV Social researcher Marcelo Neri, explains the goals of this research. “The first aim was to verify whether public housing policies have been and should be used to improve people’s lives and well-being, not only in terms of access to housing, but also in terms of access to services such as treated water supply, electricity and garbage collection,” he says.

Given the results found, Neri says that PAR was successful and argues that this housing policy ought to be relaunched and strengthened at national level, due to the effectiveness of its results.

“When you look at the overall data on housing in Brazil, you see that there has been an increase in residential capital among the poor, reducing inequality in access to housing since the 2000s. There have been many studies into the My Home, My Life Program, but before our study there had been none looking at PAR,” the researcher says.

To carry out this study, which took place in partnership with Mato Grosso Federal University under the leadership of Fabio Nishmura, databases from Brazil’s national statistics agency (IBGE), Caixa Econômica Federal, DATASUS and the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) were used.

“Using this data, we observed the spatial dynamics of the municipalities covered by PAR, and identified where the shanty towns are located. PAR was especially focused on shanty towns, which shows that the program was effectively targeted at fulfilling its objective,” says Nishmura.

Housing conditions and well-being

According to Nishmura, housing conditions in shanty towns are often problematic and harmful to people, and public officials generally fail to respond to the results of studies like this one, which show the importance of investing in housing programs to improve the lives of low-income people.

The researcher gives the example of the COVID-19 pandemic, when poorer families, including those living in shanty towns, spent days in confinement in homes of very poor quality in terms of housing infrastructure.

“The problems Brazilians tend to face are usually collective problems, and housing is one of them. Homes are people’s main asset and although the poorest people often own their home, they are generally poor quality and lack access to basic services,” he says.

Nishmura also points out that shanty towns are true social laboratories, where necessity drives innovation and adaptation among residents, in light of limited resources and structural barriers.

“We mustn’t downplay the challenges faced by shanty town residents. They develop creative and effective solutions to face everyday problems and by studying these solutions, we can provide ideas to address similar challenges in other parts of the world,” he says.

According to the researcher, understanding these problems in depth is crucial to developing public policies that can improve the living conditions of low-income people. Other studies by the same authors have already highlighted the relationship between housing, infant mortality and sanitary diseases, among other factors.

“This research has the important role of analyzing a policy that is not so well known and sharing basic knowledge about experiences that occurred but were not thoroughly analyzed,” concludes Marcelo Neri.

To read the full study, click here.

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