For the first time in its history, Rio de Janeiro is preparing an urban plan for social housing (PMHISaccording to the Portuguese abbreviation). In November, as PMHIS entered its final phase of development, a cross-community movement called The Popular advice started a public campaign for a plan to embrace key community demands that address the city’s socio-spatial inequalities.
Despite Rio de Janeiro’s chronic housing problems – including a housing deficit exceeding 200,000 units, according to the town hall—the city never had a housing plan, which shows how dispassionate public authorities responded to this need. The void is long gone condemned by urban social movementswhich urged City Hall to implement an effective housing policy beyond temporary programs such as social rent or federal initiatives such as the My House My Life housing program (MCMVaccording to the Portuguese abbreviation).
In March 2025, the Rio Urban Housing Secretariat (SMH) announced the development of a spatial plan for socially beneficial housing. The notification follows a directive established twenty years ago by the federal government through Law 11,124/2005which founded National system and Housing Social Interest Fund and requires municipalities to create local plans to access the fund’s resources.
In Rio de Janeiro, federal legislation was only amended in 2019, when the municipality committed to developing its plan through an inclusive process with the active participation of civil society. The plan is to guide the city’s housing policy for the next eight years.
The process of developing the PMHIS proposal advanced in 2025. The responsible secretariat organized public consultations, thematic seminars, hearings, internal steering board meetings and other initiatives aimed at enabling the involvement of civil society actors – especially grassroots movements, research agencies and social organizations. Despite the spaces created, there was low public participation throughout the process as there was uncertainty about the community’s demands. These problems drew criticism from the actors involved, which culminated in November Popular advicelaunch a public campaign.
Created during the cycle of mega events held in Rio de Janeiro – when over 20,000 families were forcibly evicted from their homes – The People’s Council emerged with a shared agenda: struggle forced evictions and defending the right to live in the city. Composed of various community leaders from the favelas and suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, as well as technical allies, it has since been working to defend the residents’ right to remain in their homes.
The demands of the People’s Council were formulated at the plenary meetings held every month at the headquarters Favelas pastoral committee based in the Catholic Archdiocese of Rio. Key demands include increasing the housing budget to at least 1% of the city’s total revenue—considered the minimum for an effective housing policy—and creating a municipal program to produce affordable housing so the city doesn’t rely solely on federal programs like MCMV. The People’s Council is pushing for these requirements to be included in the PMHIS.
The Council also advocates the establishment of housing rehabilitation programs, independent housing, use of unused public real estate for affordable housing, mapping of areas of special social interest to the city (AEIS) and efficient urban and land regularization in the favelas. Taken together, the proposals reflect a broad view of the housing issue, which needs to be addressed through a range of measures.
Another demand calls for the introduction of a Community Land Trust (CLT) model in Rio de Janeiro: an urban planning tool included in the city The master plan which tries to guarantee the right of residence of communities in their neighborhood – restriction real estate speculation and gentrification—and ensure affordable housing stock in the city. CLT was widely discussed during public hearings and thematic seminars of PMHIS, advocated by several actors involved in the preparation of the document and mentioned in Evaluation of the town hall.
In this final phase of the preparation of Rio de Janeiro’s first housing plan, it is essential to ensure meaningful public participation. The campaign led by the People’s Council is a democratic movement defending people’s right to have their voices heard and respected in decisions that affect the places where they live. This is a defense straight to the city. It is necessary to break away from the policy-making logic that keeps civil society at a distance and treats residents only as a check-box for consultation rather than actors in decision-making and decision-making. When addressing the issue of housing in Rio de Janeiro, it is necessary to take into account the demands of those who experience and fight for the realization of the right to adequate housing day after day.
Below are the nine demands presented by the People’s Council for the first Social Interest Housing Plan in Rio de Janeiro:
- Increase municipal investment in housing to 1% of the budget
Faced with a severe housing deficit of approximately 200,000 units (approximately 8% of all households), the city must prioritize housing. Although the total budget for 2026 is R$52.4 billion (~US$9.65 billion), the current plan allocates only 0.73% (R$382.9 million or ~US$70.58 million) to housing. We believe that the minimum required to enable an effective housing policy is an allocation of 1% of the budget, or R$524 million (~US$96.59 million).
This demand has broad support and was approved by consensus across all sectors – local groups, business representatives, trade unions, professional associations and local government – during the Municipal Conference on Cities in Rio de Janeiro. Allocating 1% of the municipal budget, excluding external funds (state, federal and international), is a basic starting point to start solving this fundamental challenge.
- Territorial plan of social housing: urgency of production
The biggest challenge in housing policy is to meet the demand of low-income residents for affordable housing – an area where communal production has historically been virtually non-existent. To fulfill its constitutional responsibility—housing is a shared responsibility of the federal, state, and local governments (1988 Federal Constitution, Article 23, Clause IX)—the city must immediately take the lead in housing production. We proposed that 40% of the funds from the Municipal Plan for Social Housing (PMHIS), which is equivalent to R$209.6 million (~US$38.63 million), be allocated to the construction of new houses. This allocation aims to achieve the goal of building at least 1,000 municipal housing units per year, which serves as a necessary complement to existing programs such as the federal My House My Life housing program.
- Municipal Technical Assistance Program for Social Housing (ATHIS): Provision of technical support
To strengthen housing policy and support favelas, it is necessary to create the Municipal Technical Assistance Program for Social Housing (ATHIS). This program should be immediately anchored in Municipal Act No. 6,614 of 2019, which already establishes the right to technical assistance. We propose to allocate at least 1% of PMHIS funds (R$5.24 million or ~US$965,900) for this purpose. This amount will be used to hire qualified technical teams to develop full executive projects. The goal is ambitious and at the same time necessary: to achieve the goal of producing at least 15 social housing projects per year, guaranteeing high-quality technical support for low-income communities.
- Career Consolidation Program: Immediate, Agreed Actions
Since the city has officially recognized these areas in its own assessment, the Vocational Consolidation Program must be created urgently. We propose to allocate 6% of PMHIS funds (R$31.44 million or ~US$5.80 million) to this crucial objective. The goal is clear: to upgrade at least six professions within two years. In order to ensure the transparency and legitimacy of the process, the criteria for the selection of occupations to be included must be agreed and defined through a parity commission specially created for this purpose.
- Self-Managed Housing Program: Empowerment and Production
The Self-Managed Housing Program aims to empower low-income families by empowering them to take control of the housing construction process. Self-government is a model in which families, organized in associations or cooperatives, implement and supervise the construction of their homes – managing the project, financing and construction itself. This program will be funded from funds associated with other housing support or renovation programs. The central goal of the Self-managed Housing Program is to deliver 200 housing units per year.
- Conversion of abandoned properties into housing of social interest
Abandoned public property must be immediately converted into housing of social interest through production or reconstruction programs. The first step is to designate these properties as Special Areas of Social Interest for Urban Voids (AEIS 2).
Objectives of PMHIS:
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- Designation: Map and designate all unused municipal properties as AEIS 2 by the end of the first year of PMHIS implementation.
- Production: Remodel and build 100 housing units per year in these areas.
- Comprehensive mapping: Map and identify abandoned properties owned by private entities or other levels of government by the end of the second year of PMHIS implementation.
- Comprehensive Mapping of Areas of Special Social Interest (AEIS)
It is necessary to define and comprehensively map all types of AEIS in the municipality (AEIS 1, AEIS 2 and AEIS 3).
Objective: Complete the mapping of all AEIS by the end of the first year of PMHIS implementation.
The process must include the evaluation of all draft AEIS submitted during the preparation of the PMHIS.
- Complete adjustment and modernization of the land
Ensure that the upgrade is carried out in accordance with the no eviction principle set out in Municipal Basic Lawas well as in the Territorial Plan of the city, the consolidation of the right to housing through the full legalization of land.
- Stimulate the use of community land funds
The Community Land Trust, aimed at guaranteeing security of tenure for favelas and preserving affordable housing, is a tool included in the master plan. The city should support the implementation of CLTs, facilitate their adoption in the processes of land legalization and new housing construction, with the aim of implementing one CLT every two years during the PMHIS period.
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