The use of public spaces to reduce the housing deficit, a method suggested by the IDB to apply in Latin America

one of the greats challenges of Latin America is to provide housing for people who need it, especially those with the lowest income; However, despite the fact that there are different paths, one of them that could be more effective is the use of public assets to reduce the housing deficit, according to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

In an analysis in this regard, Luis Schloeter, sector specialist in Housing and Urban Development at the IDB, and Sebastián Salas, an urban planning consultant for the organization, state that public assets are those that are publicly owned, whether municipal, state or federal governments.

For specialists, these spaces usually have good accessibility to goods and services, public infrastructureconnectivity and urban equipment.

“They can be a tool to solve the quantitative housing deficit (absence of housing) estimated at more than 23 million households“, can be read in the analysis of both specialists.

In the document, both specialists indicate that public assets put governments in a favorable situation to develop housing solutionsdue to:

• They own urban land: Governments have land and fields that are historically transferred by the federal administration.
• They control land uses: Municipal governments are obliged to define the zoning regulations for urban land and define the areas with good access to goods and services so that private and public investors can build housing projects.
• Promotion of solutions: Governments can also promote different housing solutions based on regulatory incentives, as well as public-private partnerships that encourage housing development for people at the bottom of the pyramid.

Lines of action

In this context, the analysis suggests that public lands can be used as part of a strategy that can lead to a inclusive, prosperous and sustainable development neighborhoods and communities in the region.

However, for this to happen, specialists propose four lines of action to handle this issue correctly.

1.- Have governance mechanisms.

The analysis highlights the importance of create a public land bankthat are well located through an executive secretariat or state agency to enable and buy land that allows connecting the need for land for the social housing development with the offer available.

2.- Implement regulatory instruments.

According to specialists, it is advisable to implement regulatory instruments for the development of social housing, oriented to the generation of integrated neighborhoodssuch as construction bonds conditioned to the construction of this type of home.

“Local governments can charge the private sector (money, works, land or urban contributions) in consideration to the increase in density on your land, which can be paid for with the construction of a percentage of units of living place social”, explains the analysis.

3.- Public-private plans

The document explains that one of the mechanisms for public assets to serve for combat the housing deficitare public-private associations aimed at serving the lower income segments.

“Governments, when they own land, can provide ownership of the land (via assignment, or lease). private developers can contribute capital to develop the project on said land in exchange for the developer reserving a percentage or all of the units for social housing,” the analysis highlights.

4.- Adapt housing according to the environment.

To promote this type of initiative, it is necessary first to carry out a market analysis that allows identifying the value at which the land could be bought or sold, in addition to determining the existing physical conditions, the characteristics of the population and the local market.

“The goal of this is to develop a suitable program to the area and let it be economically viable“, says the analysis.

Before this panorama, the IDB affirms that it is currently contributing to an initiative of this type in the Dominican Republicwhere the opportunities to take advantage of public assets that contribute to the development of that country are evaluated.

It also states that in Latin America Initiatives of this type have already been carried out and have been successful, such as the land banks in Chile, which implemented a strategy to reduce your housing deficit through the creation of a reserve bank for housing construction and the implementation of an executive secretariat for land management.