Políticas de auxílio aluguel e deslocamentos forçados na cidade do Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Big Brazilian cities have undergone profound transformations over the last few decades, with a large volume of public investment, aggravating land conflicts surrounding popular housing neighborhoods. During this period, there were also significant advances in social housing policies, especially in the production of low-income housing complexes and with the inclusion of slum upgrading policies on the public agenda. As part of this context, policies granting financial aid for rental expenses, announced as forms of temporary housing assistance for families affected by forced displacement, began to be formulated and implemented. This research focuses on these policies, commonly known as "social rental policies," understanding them as part of the long historical process of the relationship between the State and popular territories, concentrating the analysis on the 2000’s and 2010’s. It seeks to understand the emergence and diffusion of this practice, its mobilization in forced displacements, and its consequences for the housing conditions of its beneficiaries. The city of Rio de Janeiro is defined as the focus of the analysis, where social rental policies have been implemented at both the municipal and state levels. The methodological procedures are guided by the production of a situated and socially referenced knowledge, in dialogue with collective agendas. Among the research procedures, are highlighted the examination of public documents and public data about social rental policies, with the spatialization of this information. Fieldwork, including interviews, is also included in the procedures. As contributions, the research situates and delineates the contours of social rental policies, observing their interactions with the trajectory of housing policies. It shows that, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the granting of these subsidies is linked to public interventions in favelas and spread throughout the analysis period, being widely used to make viable removals linked to large urban projects and socio-environmental risks, as well as in response to disasters and emergency situations. The research also shows that access to social rental policies is accompanied by the continuation and, often, the worsening of precarious housing conditions for beneficiaries, keeping them under threat of further displacement. In a broader context, it points to the inclusion of social rental policies among the mechanisms that operate within the crisis of housing insecurity and forced displacement, exacerbating the condition of restricted access to housing.