Finances, territory and housing in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

Public finances play an important role in understanding the productive processes in Brazil, as well as in comprehending the occupation of its national territory and production of urban space. This research involves, analyzes and critically problematizes the relation between public finances, national territory and housing, considering the effects this relation has over the production and access to social housing to the poorest slice of population between the years 2017 and 2024. It identifies, characterizes and analyzes the regulation, allocation and execution of federal and state fiscal resources, together with an evaluation on the policy and the housing product supported by these financial resources, and verifies inflexions in Brazilian public housing policies since the implementation of Constitutional Amendment 95-2016. In theoretical terms, it studies the relationship between the flexible accumulation regime and the modality of regulation, as well as their association with national economic and social structures and with housing provision. In empirical terms, it analyzes financial, institutional, political arrangements and the production of housing in Brazil. The hypothesis argues that social housing provision is conditioned by a composition of public funds and financial resources in Brazil. Thus, the curtailment of public finances tends to disrupt production and access to housing in national territory, specially the access to the poorest. The relationship between public finances, national territory and the production and access to housing illuminates the debate on quality of life in urban Brazil. (AU)