Habitação social em Montes Claros: aspectos e abrangência das políticas públicas

Abstract

This work is about public policy problems on social housing in general, and more especifically in Montes Claros, Brazilian city located in the north of the State of Minas Gerais. We intended to analyze the main aspects and its range. This study also aims to verify the way the town housing policy distributed its housing programs and its actions in the city urban area, representing any kind of pattern or peculiarity and which parts of the population had this benefit. Housing is one of the basic components for a plain human life full of health and well-being. Due to its importance housing is emphasized on international treaties and on public policies planning because of its high cost makes its acquisition difficult for the low social classes, generating conflicts towards land’s possession. The interest conflict between great farmland owners and low social class people made Government take a position as a mediator and interfere in this process, subsidizing houses for low social class people. However, as demand is big, alternative solutions are not always appropriate, as in the case of auto-constructions in the periphery and public areas’ invasions. In spite of the fact that Montes Claros is a medium size hub, it presents some typical characteristics of big cities of Brazil, such as: high housing demand not finished periphery constructions, and public areas’ invasions on risky areas. Thus, it is the importance of studying this issue in the city of Montes Claros. In order to analyze this problem, we made a ranking of primary and secondary sources. In this research we used, in the review of literature, data from public agencies and also a field study. These public agencies are Montes Claros Mayor Hall, COHAB – Companhia de Habitação do Estado de Minas Gerais (State Housing Company), Caixa Econômica Federal (State Bank), como também o IBGE - Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Statistics Institute). Studies were conducted in construction companies and Real Estate Agencies that, somehow were connected to social housing programs. A field research was also conducted on areas supported by Montes Claros housing programs.