6 Million Vacant Houses Might Help Brazil Reduce Housing Deficit

Data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) indicate that 34.2% of Brazil’s municipalities do not have public supplies of drinking water, and only 30% of the country’s population is financially capable of participating in the private real estate market.

To deal with this situation, the federal government’s goal in 2005 is to apply 60% of the funds allocated to housing in the form of subsidies to families that earn up to 5 minimum wages (US$ 495). They account for 92% of the country’s housing deficit, which amounts to 7.2 million residences.


According to the executive secretary of the Ministry of Cities, Ermí­nia Maricato, the federal government is attempting to assist more low-income families.


She is taking part in the 3rd International Symposium on Urban Research, which runs through tomorrow, in Brasí­lia. The Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA) and the World Bank are sponsoring the event.


According to Maricato, the number of vacant housing units in Brazil exceeds six million, according to data from the IBGE.


They number 500 thousand in the city of São Paulo alone. In her opinion, vacant housing units in big metropolises could help reduce the country’s housing deficit.


“The number of vacant residences in the metropolises is painfully evident. Brazil’s four biggest metropolises possess more than 10% of the vacant units, which are mostly concentrated in the old urban centers.


“They are in completely urbanized neighborhoods, which offer a very high quality of life from the standpoint of infrastructure, equipment, and services, but contain many units that remain deteriorated and shut,” she said.


Translation: David Silberstein


Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

NYT Journalist Convicted in Brazil of Offending Brazilians, Ordered to Pay Compensation

American journalist Joe Sharkey, one of the occupants of the Legacy executive jet that ...

Brazil Calls EU Trade Commissioner Explanations in Hong Kong a Sham

The third day of negotiations at the 6th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade ...

Brazil Needs Reforms, Says Country’s Industry Leader

The industrial sector, composed of three groups – manufacturing, construction, and mining -, which ...

Brazil’s Main Samba Schools Celebrate World’s Biggest Carnaval Party

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, dressed in white and wearing a ...

Meeting of Portuguese-Speaking Countries Discuss Politics and Spelling

The 10th Regular Meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking ...

Ex PT Treasurer Denies Existence of Vote Buying in Brazil

The former treasurer of the ruling Brazilian Workers Party (PT), Delúbio Soares, began his ...

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

Brazil’s Lula Has Become All He Used to Hate

For many Brazilians, the October 2002 election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ...

Brazil’s Surplus Keeps Growing

Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade reports that Brazil now has a ...

Brazil’s Most Innovative Physicists Join Colleagues from Around the World in Morocco

The students at Escola Crescimento (Portuguese for Growth School), in the city of São ...

Red Tape: For Refugees Trying Brazil Many Call But Few Are Chosen

Until April this year, Brazil received 1,938 refugee applications, but only 680 were accepted. ...