Housing access mechanisms in Latin America. A few cases

Abstract

This research work deals with the significance that the right to access housing can have and its relationship with property rights. The paper analyzes several existing paradigms in Latin America, and examines the results obtained for each of the communities in which they were applied. All of this in view of the housing problems which affect more than one third of Latin America’s population. According to UN-Habitat, the most pressing difficulty is the lack of serviced land, followed by the danger to which marginal sectors are exposed regarding safe possession. Possession, which we understand, does not necessarily relate with property rights since there are other ways of access, such as rentals under protective legislation. In Argentina, there may be news regarding urban rentals if the Unification Project of the Civil and Commercial Codes, currently under debate by the Senate, is approved. Surely, the pressing and overwhelming situation of the vulnerable sectors cannot be solved by the sole action of the States, so participation of the civil society, whether developers, NGOs, members of academia, and specialized professionals, or others, is essential.