Home » Noticias » Habitantes de las Américas » Homeless families refurbish the first public building to be adapted for social housing in Brazil
Viva Miguelzinho Viva!
Los habitantes del mundo rumbo al Foro Resistencia Hábitat 3
Los habitantes en el FST en Porto Alegre
Perú: Marcha de Asentamientos Humanos Huascar
Reportaje fotogràfico sobre la tragedia de la tormenta Noel
Homeless families refurbish the first public building to be adapted for social housing in Brazil
Wenddi Porto Burger
El predio está siendo reformado y albergará 42 familias sin techo
Fabiana Leal
From Porto Alegre
On Borges de Medeiros Avenue, in the centre of Porto Alegre, the former property of the National Social Security Institute (INSS) is getting ready to accommodate forty-two families and become the first public building in the country to be converted into social housing, with funding from the Solidarity Credit Programme of the Ministry of Cities.
The building will be run on a self-management basis, with the residents undertaking income-generating activities for profit. The members of the 'Utopia and Struggle' Solidarity Cooperative (Coopsul - Cooperativa Solidária Utopia e Luta ), which will be responsible for managing the property, will begin to move into their apartments from April, according to Eduardo Solari, the convenor of Coopsul and a member of the 'Utopia and Struggle' autonomous community, part of the National Movement of Struggle for Housing (MNLM - Movimento Nacional de Luta pela Moradia ).
The building was occupied in 2005, during the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, the country's gaucho capital. The group then started negotiations with the INSS and the federal government. On 13th February 2008, the INSS agreed to sell the property, which had been abandoned for over ten years and was in poor condition.
"Given the failure of the housing system, we had to create a new model. That is why we chose self-management", said musician and composer Solari. "Through the self-management process, everyone has to be organised. In this way, we will be able to pay the costs of the condominium and educate our children, teaching them how to use computers effectively. We'll discuss environmental issues and make a contribution to society", he reported.
Solari and a colleague are the only ones still remaining from the original occupation four years ago. The other new residents are people who meet the allocation criteria. "Many people have come and gone, but many of these either couldn't get used to our system or didn't meet the criteria", said Solari, who said that this had not led to bad feelings among participants in the struggle for housing.
Sele ction process
According to Solari, the selection process took into account the applicants' age (from 25 to 58 years) and their willingness to get involved in the self-management system, as the residents themselves will be responsible for the laundry, security, cleaning, training courses, food preparation and other services needed in the building. Applicants had to have no interest in seeking public office. "As we support equal opportunities, gender and ethnic diversity were also taken into account." Seventy per cent of the residents are women heads of household and most of them study or work.
Fourteen of the studio apartments, with 30m2 of floor space, are suitable for two adults and two children. The other twenty-eight, with 25m2 of floor space, suit families with two adults and one child.
How it will work
To live in the building, each of the forty-two families will pay 25,000 Brazilian reals, interest free and with a twenty year repayment period, to the CAIXA federal development bank (CEF - Caixa Econômica Federal ), as outlined in the agreement signed with Solidarity Credit, a housing finance programme that provides funding for housing for low-income families. This programme provides funds exclusively to families organised in associations or cooperatives, with priority given to those with monthly incomes of up to 1,125 Brazilian reals.
Having already signed a contract with the Guarantee Fund, Solari believes that the group will be able to pay off the debt in ten years. But before then, he hopes to move the residents to another property and convert the building into a 'citizenship space'. "In five years we want to move the families out and turn the building into a Centre for Citizenship Education. At the moment this is not possible, because the law won't allow it, but we want to break these rules", says Solari. The need for this will arise due to the fact that the forty-two families include many young people which, over time, will lead to an increase in the number of members.
Carlos Henkin, 48 years old, is the convenor of "Utopia and Struggle" and a member of Coopsul. He expects that the experience in Porto Alegre will be the basis on which the CAIXA Federal Development Bank and the government will be able to develop a new social housing model based on self-management for the rest of Brazil.
The building has nine floors, seven of which are occupied by flats. Each floor has its own theme. The first, for the oldest residents, will be called the 'Floor of the New Man'. This is illustrated by an image drawn on the wall of the revolutionary Che Guevera. The two oldest men will be given flats with balconies looking out onto Borges de Medeiros Avenue.
'Black consciousness', 'Indigenous peoples', 'Youth', 'Biodiversity', 'Women' and 'Revolution' are the other themes for the murals and the names of different floors. The murals were painted by artists with different styles. The Terreira da Tribo actor, 30-year-old Renan Leandro, was one of the artists who painted the murals, including 'Black consciousness'.
A laundry is being installed in the basement of the building. There will be two industrial washing machines and two dryers. A domestic washing machine for children's clothing can be used for free.
On the terrace, in the 'Chico Mendes' area, there will be an industrial kitchen, a communal garden and a waste recycling area. The ground floor will have room for a theatre, computer classes and a centre for early childhood education (crèche). In the entrance hall, the phrase "you are now entering the territory of popular self-determination" will greet residents and visitors.
Other National Social Security Institute (INSS) buildings
According to the director of the Programme for Inner City Redevelopment of the National Secretariat for Urban Programmes in the Ministry of Cities, Renato Balbim, there are other buildings owned by the federal government – in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife and São Luís – which have already been ear-marked for social interest housing.
According to the Statute of the City, Federal Law 10.257/2001, these buildings must fulfil a social function. That is, they cannot just be left standing empty, as this results in costs to society as a whole.
"As regards these public buildings, the federal government, through the creation of the Ministry of Cities and the Programme for Inner City Redevelopment, has made efforts to set aside its empty properties for housing since 2003. This contributes towards reducing the housing deficit and improving the urban environment, and it allows people to live in decent conditions in areas that are well located and not out on the edge of the city," argues Balbim.
Redação Terra: http://noticias.terra.com.br/brasil/interna/0,,OI3615940-EI8139,00-Semteto+reformam+predio+publico+de+moradia+social+do+Pais.html
En el predio, van a vivir 42 familias pertenecientes a la comunidad autónoma Utopía y Lucha
Los paneles, como el de la 'Juventud', fueron pintados por artistas de diferentes estilos
El predio queda en la avenida Borges de Medeiros, en el centro de Porto Alegre
El mural de la Consciencia Negra fue diseñado en el tercer piso del predio en el centro de Porto Alegre
La lavandería, con máquinas industriales de lavar y secar ropa, será construida en el subsuelo del predio
El último piso del 1º predio de vivienda social del País ganó el panel "Revolución"
El panel 'Pueblos Indígenas' queda en el tope de la escalera que da acceso al cuarto piso
En el piso del 'Hombre Nuevo' vivirán los hombres de más edad del grupo Dos departamentos tienen balcón
El actor Renan Leandro, de 30 años, pintó el mural de la Consciencia Negra
El sexto piso del predio recibe el nombre de "biodiversidad"
Social housing , restructuration , homeless people
Galeria reforma sem-teto 3
Portuguese (Brazil) (documento original)
Bolivia, Si, se puede contar con viviendas propias y tenencia de tierra
Lima, marcha del "Movimiento de los Sin Techo de Lima y Callao"
Brasil, As ocupações de terra e edifícios marcam este Dia Nacional de Mobilização
ACONAPAMG lucha por la reubicación de 350 familias en Guatemala
Brasil: Criminalizar ocupaciones puede justificar desalojos, dicen las organizaciones
¡Alerta! El PRO vendería al Grupo America tierras que eran para la re-urbanización de La Villa 31, Buenos Aires
AIH e CONAM nas atividades da Reforma Urbana no FST em Porto Alegre