TOUR OF THE HABITAT WORLD SEEN BY CIVIL SOCIETY

Chile

#Mots-clés : Eviction Dernière mise à jour le 7 June 2019

URBANIZATIONchile

History of Cities – Heritage

Urban Housing

Rural Housing

As already explained above, only 13% of the Chilean population lives in rural areas. To characterize this, take the example of the traditional habitat on the Altiplano. Each family has several buildings and families are separated by several hundred meters or yards. The family room is built around an inner courtyard surrounded by a wall and several outbuildings. The earth is still widely used as a material, which provides good insulation. The thatched roof is the traditional by definition. It enables a good heat insulation at a reasonable cost. In villages, the buildings are more clustered than in the countryside, but the materials are the same (the earth for walls and thatch or tiles for roofs).Source: http://www.6climats6habitats.com/altiplano.htm

LEGAL ASPECTS

Right to Housing

The 1980 Chilean Constitution recognizes the obligation of the State to respect and promote the rights recognized in the Constitution and in international treaties ratified by Chile. On February 2, 1977 Chile ratified the main treaty on Human Rights enshrining the human right to adequate housing. This right is not just a property right, but right to use and human well-being. However, Chilean law and practice, housing is considered a material property that is acquired by the property. State Housing Policy is intended only to grow the market owners, no recognize other alternatives. The right to housing is seen as a funding mechanism to access affordable way to roof, leaving aside the other attributes of the human right to security of tenure, access to services, access to environmental goods, preferential access for vulnerable groups or those who are subject to discrimination, location and cultural appropriateness. Accommodation provided by the Chilean state are officially awarded as benefit or reward in relation to a given stress, concepts that are inconsistent with the essence of human rights.

By promoting only full ownership, political and economic culture of the state discourages alternatives such as rental options controlled or collective management.

Regarding social housing, it is created mainly around major cities, providing a social and spatial segregation and stigmatization that results. Because of this policy, the state has been the producer of urban ghettos.

Over the past three decades, housing policies have attempted to reverse these processes through mechanisms such as the location of allowance or increasing subsidies. However, it is clear that these measures can not replace the necessary land management policies that guarantee access to common resources. Current policies do not have specific devices for particularly vulnerable groups such as the homeless, immigrants, Roma, the elderly, the young, the disabled and indigenous peoples. Isolation and material discrimination experienced by these groups are not resolved only housing but with more comprehensive measures. Some social groups such as migrants living in squalid conditions are not covered by any social policy or housing.

The legal system has no plan to protect the right to adequate housing. Housing policy is part of a social policy designed primarily to overcome poverty. However, in practice, we focus only on reducing the housing deficit and effective targeting of resources, while ignoring the primacy of human rights.

Forced Eviction

Peñalolén mobilizes against the territorial regulation plan developed by Orrego (mayor of the town)” Video posted by a member of the International Alliance of Inhabitants on the mobilization of the inhabitants of Peñalolén, a town in the province of Santiago against planning territorial advocated by the mayor, arguing that this ‘master planopens the door to building projects because the lands have wishes densify used only for large real estate projects, destroying 40% of the ecological community look at the video

Land Rights

Land Grabbing

Vulnerable Groups

Some interesting Practices

  • PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING : 3 PB interesting projects in Chile :
    • Quillota, an agricultural centre in central Chile, is a medium-size city with 76,000 inhabitants and is 60 kilometres from Valparaiso, the regional capital. PB started here in 2008 and was interrupted for a year in 2010 because of the earthquake that shook the country.
    • Also located in the Valparaiso region, San Antonio is similar in size (87,000 inhabitants in 2002) to Quillota and is a major Chilean port. It was severely hit by the 2010 earthquake, hardly having recovered from the 2005 quake that had largely destroyed the whole city. Here too, PB, which started in 2006, was interrupted for a year in 2010.
    • La Serena is a historical city on the Chilean northern coast, established in 1544. A regional capital of over 160,000 inhabitants, it is famous for its beaches, which make it a national destination for summer holidays. Despite being a latecomer to PB (it started in 2009), La Serena rapidly became quite active within the Chilean PB Forum and hosted the annual national meeting in 2012. At the same time, it has produced, with the support of the Chilean Association of Municipalities, an excellent book on the experience. Under the leadership and championship of its Mayor, La Serena placed a strong emphasis on civil society and people’s education, which probably explains the quality of the process so far.
    •  More informations : about the Participatory Budgeting concept – about the working paper made by prof. Y. Cabannes (IIED 2014) : http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10713IIED.pdf
  • Peñalolen : Since 1999, hundreds of families occupy land in the municipality of Peñalolen in Santiago, Chile. In one year, these families have built their modest homes, installed electricity, drinking water, have a massive community infrastructure have developed mechanisms of participatory democracy … In short, rather than to a simple wasteland, these families recaptured their future and require that the legal recognition of what they have gained good fight. Until now, these families have not received one response to the repression. Today more than ever under threat of a violent eviction by the police, these families call for international solidarity to deter the Chilean government to suppress by force this popular self-management experience through which hundreds of Families are appropriate not only shelter but also an autonomous community organization. More informations : http://ainfos.ca/00/aug/ainfos00254.html
  • First national school for social leaders to housing rights in Chile (2008) : Community leaders gathered in Santiago for training and share experiences on the fight for the right to housing. The objective of the seminar was to create a space for leaders of community organizations in the metropolitan area to facilitate the exchange of experiences and the formulation of strategies to ensure the right to housing in Chile.

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS

Housing Market

Quality of Housing

The poorest, often of immigrant origin, will in the 60s – living in what is called the conventillos” poor housing collectively held where one will find in unsanitary conditions, overcrowding, delinquency. Historical origin of conventillos : http://revistaurbanismo.uchile.cl/

Informal Housing / Slum / Homeless

ROLE OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES

In Chile, the housing is not considered a right, but in terms of goods whose quality depends on the involved financial resources. This is related to the definition of housing subsidized by the state: low cost, with a minimum standard in terms of materials, which is in contrast to the design of the United Nations on the attributes of decent housing . (NHRIs, 2012, p. 261)

Social Housing

Social housing is created mainly around major cities, providing a social and spatial segregation and stigmatization that results. Because of this policy, the state has been the producer of urban ghettos.

A pioneer in Latin America, Chile has launched a policy of building public housing in the 1980s But these units generating major urban and social problems, various renovation programs have emerged in the 2000s, the last in Date advocating the partial destruction of some subdivisions. Source: LPED, 2013 (http://www.mexique.ird.fr/toute-l-actualite/evenements-colloques-forums-conferences-seminaires/seminaire-du-lped-les-nouvelles-politiques-du-logement-social-en-amerique-latine.-le-cas-du-mexique)

In the context of social housing, activists criticize government policy that loans vouch for the poorest to the State Bank for mortgage credit, and sent off in the event of default, rather than investing directly in housing. More info : http://www.agoravox.fr/actualites/international/article/chili-de-la-crise-a-la-rue-l-57864

ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS

Bibliography & Sitography

  1. CADTM – Comité pour l’Annulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde – Raúl Zibechi « Vers un nouveau cycle de luttes en Amérique latine », 2013.

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Major Problems

Major Claims and Demands

  • In Chile, the state considers housing as a commodity. Those who need housing are considered as applicants or recipients of a gift made by the State, which denies the very essence of the right to adequate housing.
  • Chile should stop only encourage ownership in its full form in order to ensure adequate housing.
  • Although land costs continue to rise in all Chilean cities, spatial segregation is observed (the low-income households are relegated to lower standards locations), which also reinforces poverty and hampers development. The state should intervene in urban development to eliminate this social polarization.
  • The policy must constantly fight against marginalization, ghettoization and discrimination against residents of social housing by the authorities and local communities.
  • Chile should review the housing policy for indigenous peoples by ensuring that housing supply meets their cultural property values.

Some Actors from Social Movements

  • MOVIMIENTO DE POBLADORES EN LUCHA – MLP = http://mplchile.cl/
    FEDERACION NACIONAL DE POBLADORES – FENAPO = social movement that mobilizes for the right to housing. See a Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxBNSXMTyYU
  • INSTITUTO NATIONAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS – INDH : The mission of the Institute is to preserve and promote the full realization of human rights in Chile. Website : http://www.indh.cl/
  • CONSEJO DE MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES DE PENALOLEN
  • ANDHA (AGRUPACION NACIONAL DE DEUDORES HABITACIONALES) CHILE A LUCHAR DEMOCRATICO : Our partnership consists mainly of women fighting to end the Chilean business about Internet social. Website : http://aluchar.es.tl/
  • UN TECHO PARA CHILE – TECHO : TECHO is a young NGO present in Latin America and the Caribbean. Thanks to the joint work of families living in extreme poverty with young volunteers, TECHO aims to alleviate poverty in the slums. Website : http://www.techo.org/paises/chile/
  • RED HABITAT – CHILE : the projects and investigations of the urban and rural housing Workshop is a private non-profit association, headquartered in Bolivia, which has existed since 1993. This partnership brings together the various forces of the country in housing rights. Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/people/Red-Habitat-Chile/100004289418495