This is a CTP of initiative: ICA/MOI (Argentina)
This CTP addresses the approval of Law 341 Housing, Policy Instrumentation and Mortgage Guarantee. This fact constitutes a CTP because the law was a consequence of the design, impetus and political negotiation in the City of Buenos Aires of the Movement of Occupants and Tenants, the MOI.
This phase had two aspects: on the one hand it coincided with the development of the notion of habitat integrality, promoting housing cooperatives as an instrument to guarantee the inalienable right to a decent habitat. On the other hand, and even more important, was the implementation of Law 341, legal framework that generated by the MOI. If the habitat is in spatial terms in the notion of integrality, it was intended to respond by activities that made everyday life of people.
Some of the most important articles of the law establish the creation of specific sectoral policies, following the specific recommendations provided by the MOI:
"Article 1. The Executive Branch, through the Municipal Housing Commission, will implement policies for access to housing for exclusive and permanent use of low-income households in a critical housing situation, assumed as individual beneficiaries or incorporated in verifiable collective organization processes , Through cooperatives, mutual or non-profit civil associations, through subsidies or mortgage-backed loans.
Article 2º. The group of persons, relatives or not, living under the same roof, according to a family regime, sharing food expenses, will be considered as a household. Those who live alone constitute a home.
Article 9º. The Municipal Housing Commission will apply the following criteria in defining the housing solution for the different beneficiaries: a) When the beneficiaries receive monthly income below the poverty line, the extension or refurbishment of their own housing will be promoted, Purchase, construction or rehabilitation edilicia of economic housing collectively. Subsidies may be available when it is essential to complete the corresponding monthly quota. B) When the beneficiaries receive monthly income and above the poverty line, they will be able to access the different programs considered in Article 4 of this Law.
These articles show the creation of a specific legal framework and demonstrate the transformative character of the MOI in the field of housing and cooperative housing. On the one hand regulates the action of housing cooperatives.
The main actors associated with the MOI at the time of the enactment of Law 341 participated actively in the design work of the document. These were:
1. The Faculty of Architecture, Design, Art and Urbanism (FADU in it Spanish initials) of the University of Buenos Aires, created in 1947 and progressively incorporating social projects and their increasingly direct link with society in their different fields of work.
2. Within the FADU, the main body with which the MOI will work is in the Habitat and Housing Studies Center, created in 1984, in the scenario of the return of democracy.
3. The Liaison Secretariat of Self-managed Communities, created in 1980 as an articulation agent between the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and civil society.
4. The Housing and Community Foundation, was created in 1978, in the midst of a military dictatorship by a group of architects and sociologists from the City of Buenos Aires to provide technical and financial assistance to low income families, groups and organizations.
Associated with the stage of the movement, the base of the movement was extended to national level and especially in the City of Buenos Aires, where more than 400 cooperatives were formed and the acquired properties surpassed the 100 units. Law 341, in fact, implied a level of conformation of a Real Estate Bank. Then we work with other organizations on the issue of rights. The law as a historical construction, not as something given and given, but as construction. Then the right to the city, the right to housing. Then we enter the three specific axes: self-management, collective ownership and mutual aid.
"Then we move the story of the table in the legislature and the specific contents of Law 341. Finally, a tour of cooperatives is done and ends with a first evaluation: who was and who was not, how was and how was not. Basically make a process evaluation, which is what for us is obviously more important; They have to be in the majority of those eight, ten meetings. Then we work with other organizations on the issue of rights. The law as a historical construction, not as something given and given, but as construction. Then the right to the city, the right to housing. Then we enter the three specific axes: self-management, collective ownership and mutual aid. Then we move the story of the table in the legislature and the specific contents of Law 341. Finally, a tour of cooperatives is done and ends with a first evaluation: who was and who was not, how was and how was not. Basically make a process evaluation, which is what for us is obviously more important; They have to be in the majority of those eight, ten meetings."
From the formed alliances, one of the most outstanding topics in the objectives of transformation of the MOI was to propose a new table in the legislature of the City of Buenos Aires, seeking the promotion of a self-managed production law of habitat and cooperative housing.
In the 1990s, a change was made in Argentina in the economic policies of shrinking of the State and reduction of social spending that aggravated the situation of the housing deficit. This management lasted for more than a decade and favored the growth of transformative cooperative movements.
At the beginning of the year 2000, the neoliberal economic policies had produced a serious crisis that aligned to numerous transforming forces, among which was the MOI. The abandonment of the public assistance of problems like the habitat implied the destruction of the State of Welfare. In turn, the 1990s were affected by two regional crises: the first was in Mexico in 1994, while the second in 1998 was even more important for Argentina, given that it occurred in Brazil, an associated country in an area Common exchange.
These crises, were a result of the accelerated growth of external indebtedness and the destruction of labor legislation through deregulation, flexibilization and precarious employment, accompanied by the liberalization of imports and destruction of the productive apparatus at the regional level. These crises, were a result of the accelerated growth of external indebtedness and the destruction of labor legislation through deregulation, flexibilization and precarious employment, accompanied by the liberalization of imports and destruction of the productive apparatus at the regional level. Concrete expressions of these policy changes at the local level were overwhelming: 1- interrupting the support of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires to advance the PADELAI experience; 2 - indication to the Zonal Social Centers, decentralized government agencies, strongly linked to the neighborhood demands, not to be linked to the MOI; 3 - media construction of strong discriminatory campaigns, of which the General Confederation of Labor (Confederación Genaral del Trabajo in spanish) was a functional operative part, among others, a direct beneficiary of privatization policies; And as a golden close, 4- writing a new Civil Code that framed the occupation of buildings as a criminal figure. Somehow it was stated that:
"The one who does not have a home for his children because he lost the job and decide to occupy an empty house - usually for years - is arrested."
Contrary to the social objectives pursued by the MOI, the Government of the City of Buenos Aires oriented its housing policy to intervention in urban renewal processes linked to the concentrated sectors. Such is the case of the Puerto Madero Project where the urban land is practically given away to less than 200 u$s per m2, to promote "private investment".
The Law 341 was the product of an intense debate, both internal and with other organizations that participated in the foundations and technical drafting of the document. During the 1980s, the MOI emerged in opposition to state policies. However, even with the different governments of both the City of Buenos Aires and the Nation, the political objectives of the MOI led it to negotiate and produce a document that would serve as a platform for the new law.
But the process was not fast or easy for the MOI. Public policies in the 1990s represented concrete expressions of support from the city government to advance, first against on the occupation of PADELAI, then against all occupations. An example of this was the mandate to the Zonal Social Centers, decentralized agencies of the City Government of strong contact with the neighborhood demands, not to be linked to the MOI. The National Government adopted a policy of criminalization of occupations based on the mediatic construction of strong campaigns, as well as actions in conjunction with the other major party (the Radical Civic Union -Unión Cívica Radical in spanish) to modify the Civil Code and penalize the occupation of buildings. The debates and openness to discussion with other state institutions such as the Ministry of Housing were central to the government's recognition of the cooperative movement, which allowed it to incorporate in the Constitution of the City of Buenos Aires the right to self-management procesess and the recovery of idle estates.
The debates and openness to discussion with other state institutions such as the Ministry of Housing were central to the government's recognition of the cooperative movement, which allowed it to incorporate in the Constitution of the City of Buenos Aires the right to self-management procesess and the recovery of idle estates.
However, beyond the sanction of the law, its implementation implies a permanent debate between social organizations and governments:
"The City Government has in the cooperatives promoted by the law 341 a tool to attack the housing deficit, but it makes the political decision not to use it. There are no data on the land and real estate bank. To think of a housing policy in which the State gives land without being able to specify a public policy that resolves the housing deficit is to speak of a denying state.”
As reported by the cooperatives, since of 2007, when the government of the City of Buenos Aires was occupied by a right-wing party, actions around the law were postponed and even suspended. The purchase of land was abandoned, the entrance of construction projects for 300 cooperatives was closed and the activity of the Land and property Bank of the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires was paralyzed. As reported by the cooperatives, since of 2007, when the government of the City of Buenos Aires was occupied by a right-wing party, actions around the law were postponed and even suspended. The purchase of land was abandoned, the entrance of construction projects for 300 cooperatives was closed and the activity of the Land and property Bank of the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires was paralyzed.
All this, shows that while the law was passed as a fundamental step, the political debates and struggles for its implementation are still in force.
The enactment of Law 341 was the product of a strategic activity of the Movement of Occupants and Tenants. In fact, the creation of a law that positions the problems of habitat in Argentina, giving priority to housing cooperatives.
The law was not only anticipated by the founding cooperatives who occupied the first buildings a few years earlier, but proposed as a central objective to intervene in the habitat policies in Argentina. The law 341 became a tool for overcoming alternatives; With lack of knowledge and often lack of organizational logics, the families themselves (who have been hastyly incorporated into cooperatives or civil associations, without being organizational) were embraced as well as the government's own political leaders.
The enactment of Law 341 generated learning at different levels, both based on the evaluation of the negotiation process and the elaboration of the document, as well as on the possibilities it allowed to move forward. At the level of the evaluation there were significant learnings. On the one hand, on the self-evaluation of the processes. This allowed to have, quickly, an internal analysis of the processes that were given from the law.
"Then we try to make sure that the idea of the evaluation is not to put a red cross to the one who is not, but first to ask him why he is not there, he got sick, there he was thrown out of the laburo, around the woman hit him, things that Often happen many times. They are also cultural issues, how to strengthen things that are containment and not expulsion, but also how limits are set. These types of processes are not annotated in a list and expect someone to ring you, but must be associated with the culture of those who participate. That is why there are quantitative, qualitative evaluations and, above all, try to develop visualizations of processes. Then the pre-cooperative phase, which is already more systematic and starts with the pre-cooperative agreement, is entered. This is like an internal regulation of the cooperative; Defines the organization of the pre-cooperative, the three basic commissions (participation commission, contribution commission, mutual aid commission), and the follow-up and evaluation of peers in each of the commissions."
Two key issues emerged from the evaluations on how the document was designed, especially how some needs had not been identified. The first is that Law 341 did not finance community equipment. This limited the community work in the organizational phase and the collective space was occupied by the individual interests. On the other hand, although the Law gave special support to housing cooperatives, there would also be the possibility of financing to private projects, distorting part of the objectives of the MOI. On the other hand, although the Law gave special support to housing cooperatives, there would also be the possibility of financing to private projects, distorting part of the objectives of the MOI.
This is another of the elements that we are proposing, to recover or to signify in the future implementation of the law: the dimension of the habitat. While it is not a law that is only centered on the home, its main features do not necessarily propose the problem as a habitat issue, but rather as housing. For the members of the MOI, it is necessary to work on the materialization of the problem at the habitat level, in terms of community facilities, productive equipments or collective spaces open or closed, all that implies, a vision of the normal areas of daily life Neighborhood
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