Public-Private Partnerships for Affordable Housing in Brazil: Promises and Pitfalls

Abstract

This thesis examines the adoption of Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) in the delivery of affordable housing in Brazil. Using as a case study São Paulo’s Casa Paulista Program, the country’s first P3 for affordable housing, it investigates the shifting role of government in housing and space production, moving away from development to serving as a facilitator. It documents and critically assesses changes and continuities in affordable housing governance, and details the rising conflicts between state, market, and civil society actors. Findings show that PPPs have failed in their central ambition of leveraging private capital, in scaling up production, and have excluded citizens from engaging in policy decision-making. It concludes by proposing special attention to planners and public authorities of specificities of space and time in the implementation of universal planning ideas.