Urban Poverty Alleviation through Environmental Upgrading in Rio de Janeiro: Favela Bairro

THIS REPORT PRESENTS the outcome of research undertaken in 1999-2000 to examine the conceptual framework underpinning what the authors argue is a new generation of housing policies aiming at the alleviation of poverty. The Rio de Janeiro squatter settlement upgrading programme (Favela Bairro) in Brazil was chosen as a model to assess the implementation of those characteristics distinctive of the emerging housing strategy.

Rather than being an evaluation of the performance of the programme, the aim of this report is to inform policy makers, practitioners, academics and interested parties of the objectives and operations of an innovative programme.

The Favela Bairro programme aims at upgrading all medium-sized squatter settlements in the city of Rio de Janeiro by 2004, to reduce social exclusion and improve living conditions. This report explores the characteristics and conceptual basis of the new housing policy framework and examines how it is being implemented. Another objective of the research was to enhance knowledge and understanding of how poverty alleviation objectives are being developed and put into practice. Thus, a thorough description of how poverty has been understood and defined over the past decades is presented. Furthermore, the distinctive components that characterize the new policy approach to urban poverty are explained, these being: the acknowledgement of the heterogeneity of the poor; the multi-sectoral nature of projects; community participation; partnership and devolution to policy and institutional levels; municipalization; and city scale.

The evolution of housing policies is detailed and located within a global policy context in which upgrading policies have emerged and evolved. From conventional to non-conventional policies, “...towards the new generation of housing policies for poverty alleviation”, the report highlights the methodological approach which is now emerging as a way of embracing multiple specific contexts.

The second part of the report is dedicated to the analysis of the Favela Bairro programme. Housing policies in Rio de Janeiro have evolved greatly in the past decades and the Favela Bairro programme is representative of a shift by municipal governments toward large-scale, multi-sectoral and systematic interventions for the reduction of urban poverty. The programme itself is explained in great detail – its objectives, its development and implementation, and the institutional context in which it has evolved. The analysis of several projects being implemented as part of the Favela Bairro demonstrates the successes and obstacles faced by specific cases which have undergone the implementation of the multi-sectoral approach to poverty alleviation.

Finally, the research findings are presented, highlighting the complexity of the approach. Despite the specific context of Favela Bairro, the lessons learnt are not only of interest to the programme practitioners but, above all, to policy makers and practitioners from different low and middle income country contexts. The report concludes with recommendations for policy makers and, more specifically for researchers, suggesting areas where further studies would be valuable for enhancing understanding of housing policies as a tool for poverty alleviation and eradication.