According to the 1988 Federal Constitution, access to dignified housing is a right that must be guaranteed by the state to all Brazilian families and can be understood as the gateway to other rights.
It is in housing that the most essential activities of our daily lives take place, such as care, feeding, rest, protection, the closest and primary social relations. It is also from the place where one lives in the city that the conditions for access to mobility, education, health, public safety, work, among other collective consumption goods and services, are established.
The difficulty of accessing dignified housing in Brazil, especially for the most impoverished and vulnerable social classes, is a relevant and challenging issue, the subject of important social struggles since the middle of the last century, through which the state has been pressured to prioritize the formulation of housing policies.
In the current context of capitalist urbanization, the housing issue is more challenging than ever, considering that the causes of this problem have gained new ingredients, responsible for deepening the housing crisis. There is a growing number of families in a state of homelessness, scarcity, and precariety, making it more complex to implement effective solutions to address it.
To highlight some elements of the urban and social reality in the 21st century, we mention the transformations in the real estate market, brought about by the new rentism and financialization; the end of the wage society; the dismantling of social rights and the reduction of state investments in public policies, resulting from neoliberalism applied to public management; among others, which together have produced increasingly unequal societies and cities.
According to the last census conducted by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), between 2010 and 2022, the number of favelas and urban communities in Brazil doubled. In Paraná, this number more than tripled. Another revealing indicator is the impact of rent on families' income. In 2022, the high cost of rent accounted for 63.2% of the housing deficit in Paraná.
Curitiba presented the second highest increase in the price per square meter of a rented property among Brazilian capitals, in the period from 2017 to 2024. The housing problem also has a metropolitan dimension that is often neglected - 39% of the country's housing deficit is concentrated in metropolitan regions.
Accompanying this picture of shortages and contradictions, between 2010 and 2022, the number of households in Brazil grew by 34%, as did the number of vacant households, which rose from 10 million to 18.1 million, according to the latest census data.
There is a growing number of vacant properties in Brazil, while the population in precarious and housing-deficient situations increases. It's also worth noting that, in the last four years, unemployment has seen a significant decrease, and in 2025, the country recorded the lowest unemployment rate (5.2%) since the IBGE's historical series began in 2012.
In other words, the housing crisis is related to the growing difficulty for popular classes to access decent housing, not a lack of housing units.
Among the various elements that make up the problem, we highlight one linked to the characteristics of Brazilian federalism and the specificities of housing policy in this context. As Fernanda Lima-Silva and Glenda Dantas Ferreira point out in the book we published through the Metropolitan Observatory Network., the implementation of housing policy requires high financial costs, which depend on federal incentives and resources for the production of shared policies.Simultaneously, there is formal autonomy in the proposal and execution of actions by state and municipal governments. Despite Brazil having the National System for Housing and Social Interest (SNHIS), since its creation, it has been seen as a symbolic piece without effectiveness.
There is also a formal autonomy in the proposal and execution of actions by state and municipal governments. Although Brazil has the National System for Housing and Social Interest (SNHIS), since its creation, it has been perceived as a symbolic element without effectiveness.
The creation of SNHIS was in the year of 2005 (Law 11.124/2005) and aimed to promote inter-federative articulation and the design of housing policies that guaranteed low-income populations access to urbanized land and dignified housing. The implementation of this system relies on the establishment of institutionalities (funds, councils, and social housing plans) focused on financing housing programs.
To join SNHIS, a municipality must create and implement these institutionalities by law. However, according toA technical note published in January 2026 by the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM), although 97.5% of Brazilian municipalities (5,429) have signed the SNHIS adherence term, as of October 2025, only 26.2% (1,457) were regular and could access resources from the National Fund for Social Housing (FNHIS).
It is true that there are asymmetries among Brazilian municipalities, mainly regarding the existence of specialized technical teams to meet SNHIS requirements, but there is no doubt that the figure revealed by CNM indicates the low priority given by municipal governments to ensuring dignified housing for low-income populations.
Given that federal investments in housing have been significant since the mid-2000s, primarily through the implementation of the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) and the My House, My Life (PMCMV) program, the low regularity of municipalities regarding SNHIS helps explain why a significant portion of these resources is not being directed towards social housing programs and projects to serve low-income or unemployed populations – for whom state action is justified according to the principles set forth in the Federal Constitution.
This is an important topic that needs to be prioritized by the mandates of the state and federal executive and legislative representatives to be elected this year. The Management Council of the National Fund for Social Housing (FNHIS) has extended the deadline for municipalities to regularize their outstanding issues with the SNHIS until January 31, 2027.Resolution 60/2024) has extended the deadline for municipalities to regularize their outstanding issues with the SNHIS until January 31, 2027.
Thus, during election times, the state capabilities for formulating and implementing housing policy in Brazilian federalism need to be debated. The instability of the federal arrangement that prevails in Brazilian housing policy helps explain why federal public resources have been ineffective in promoting access to decent housing for the poorest and most vulnerable families.
It also helps to understand why the real estate market has been the main beneficiary of these public resources. As urban critical studies have amply demonstrated, the market has no interest in producing housing for those with little or no income. It is much more profitable to produce for those who can take out a long-term financing.
More than ever, government plans should be examined and critically reflected upon regarding proposals to combat the housing crisis in Brazil. It is necessary and urgent to elect governments committed to social demands, aware of the need to invest in improving state capabilities for formulating and implementing social housing policies, ensuring that resources allocated to address the housing crisis are directed to the poorest population, with social control, democratic management, and a federalism effectively based on intergovernmental cooperation.
*Madianita Nunes da Silva is a researcher at the Curitiba Core of the INCT Observatory of Metropolises and a lecturer in the graduate program in Urban Planning and the Architecture and Urbanism course at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR).
**This is an opinion piece. The author's view does not necessarily reflect the newspaper's editorial line.Brazil de Fato.