Accountability Relations in Social Housing Programs. A comparative legal analysis of Brazilian and Chilean case studies

UA Ruhr Studies on Development and Global Governance, Bd. 75

Mariana Vilmondes

ISBN 978-3-8325-5488-0
529 pages, year of publication: 2022
price: 52.50 €
Accountability Relations in Social Housing Programs. A comparative legal analysis of Brazilian and Chilean case studies https://doi.org/10.30819/5488

Institutional crises the Latin America are seldom not rooted in the lack of accountability. uman rights’ violations both increase and are increased by those institutional weaknesses. This research evidenced that vicious cycle: despite impressive social housing programs in size and goals, the lack of adequate housing particularly affects the most-poor because of weak legal and institutional structures. The comparison of legal accountability relations in the urban social housing ownership models Minha Casa, Minha Vida, from Brazil, and D.S. 49, D.S. 1, and D.S. 19, from Chile, revealed several of those inconsistencies, but also advised on concrete solutions to their accountability relations inspired by the rights-based approach. Policies fall short on the delegation of responsibilities to duty-bearers, whose weak obligations to inform, justify or respond neutralizes concrete chances of enforcing redress or grievance. Victims of discrimination and without access to the minimum existencial, the most-vulnerable remain marginalized by the system that oughts to care for them. The solution is obvious: the respect, protection and fulfillment of human rights must be used as means and goals of those or any other policies and institutional structures.