MINHA Casa Minha Vida PROGRAM (PMCMV):

influences on urban sprawl in Pau dos Ferros/RN

Abstract

The housing deficit in the most populous areas is still a present characteristic, but socioeconomic inequality is not an exclusivity of large cities in Brazil and metropolitan regions, because the lack of housing for the population also occurs in medium and small cities. Over time, the various governments instituted public policies that sought to reduce the indicators associated with the housing issue in the country. In 2009, we observed the formulation and implementation of the Minha Casa Minha Vida Program (PMCMV), with significant social and economic repercussions, including in the cities of the Semiarid. The PMCMV boosted the supply of housing, including for the poorest population, resulting in the expansion of urban space built in countless cities. This movement of urban expansion, with the implementation of allotments and housing constructions, also occurred in the city of Pau dos Ferros/RN. In this sense, the objective is: To analyze the main influences exerted by the PMCMV in the expansion of the urban space built in Pau dos Ferros/RN. Data were collected through documentary and bibliographical research, in addition to a field research, in which interviews were conducted with the owners of the properties built through financing, as well as images of the studied neighborhoods were collected. It was found that the PMCMV was not solely responsible for the change in the urban dynamics of Pauferrense, but it is argued that the expansion of the urban space built in the city, at least at the speed at which it took place, was only possible because of the Program. Moreover, it is possible to argue that real estate developers were the agents who benefited most economically from the expansion process.