Adequate Housing: A Human Right Based Approach for Mexico’s Housing Policy

Carina Arvizu Machado

December 4, 2023

Mexico’s Need for Affordable Housing

Mexico, a nation of 130 million, is marked by deep income disparities. Half of its population lives in vulnerable income conditions, with 43.9% living under multidimensional poverty and 8.5% in extreme poverty conditions. During the Neoliberal period of the late 1990s and 2000s, the national housing policy was the driving force to foster economic growth, boost national employment, and stimulate the construction sector. This led to the mass production of affordable houses by the private sector, purchased mainly with mortgages by the National Workers' Housing Fund Institute (INFONAVIT), a government fund available to formal sector workers). Most of these houses were built several miles away from the urban centers, with no public transport systems available, nor other types of public services and mixed uses. Houses were built “on speculation by private companies and purchased with mortgages [rather] than through the incremental building process that traditionally housed most of the country” (Monkkonen 2011). 

Three major consequences of this approach were:

1. The expansion of Mexican cities: Large social housing projects on the city outskirts often resulted in the conversion of rural areas into urban zones (Sedesol, 2012). 

2. The deepening of urban inequalities: Urban sprawl gave rise to dormitory cities, which further exacerbated inequalities. Hard-pressed families ended up living far from city centers, where jobs are often located, facing demanding daily journeys and spending more than 25% of their income on transportation costs.  (CTS Embarq México, 2014). 

3. The abandonment of many new homes built in the past two decades. INFONAVIT and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (SEDATU) reported a staggering 650,000 thousand abandoned houses by 2021 (Sedatu, 2021) - more than the entire city of Philadelphia - had been emptied and vandalized. Because of their remote location and the high cost of transportation, families moved in with their parents and abandoned their homes. This led to defaulting on their loans, negative credit reports, subsequent legal action, and loss of property.

Moving Forward: A Human Rights-Based Approach

In 2018, following the change of federal administration, a new National Housing Policy was mandated to be delivered. The outcomes of public policies are closely tied to their underlying motivations and agendas. Consequently, the Mexican Federal Government, through the different national housing agencies (some focused on delivering mortgages, while others gave subsidies or technical assistance) shifted from an economic development focus to a human rights-based approach. Data showed that of the 9.4 million households experiencing a housing deficit, 75% was due to qualitative housing deficit, not quantitative (INEGI, 2018).  Therefore, the policy’s main focus shouldn't be on building new homes from the ground up, but on allowing the retrofitting of the existing stock. 

National Policy as a North Star 

The new national housing policy was developed under the UN-Habitat framework of the right to adequate housing, which entails addressing seven critical elements : (1) Security of tenure, (2) Availability of services, materials, facilities, and infrastructure, (3) Affordability, (4) Habitability, (5) Accessibility, (6) Location, and (7) Cultural adequacy.

The three main goals for the new policy and some strategies used to achieve them follow.

Goal 1: Housing as a Human Right

The top priority is recognizing housing as a fundamental human right, ensuring access for all.

Goal 2: Federal Housing Agencies focus on the underserved and vulnerable and the role of the state is to lead territorial planning.

Previously, a lack of market interest resulted in poor quality and distant houses for underserved communities. When the state recovers leadership in territorial planning, policies that benefit underserved communities are the focus.. The National Housing Commission (CONAVI) gives housing subsidies for the underserved and those facing vulnerabilities, with 7 out of 10 beneficiaries being women, especially indigenous women. Self-production with technical assistance is encouraged to empower individuals and enhance the local economy. In the past four years, CONAVI has provided 400,000+ direct subsidies to the neediest families, primarily situated in remote areas, peripheral communities, and indigenous communities. Importantly, the efforts are collaborative, involving on-the-ground architects and technicians, as well as partnerships with NGOs.

The role of the state is to recover the leadership in territorial planning and focus on underserved communities (where the market wouldn’t have interest, and in the past, the response was poor quality and distant houses).

Goal 3: Location Matters

"Location, location, location" is key. Changes were made in the guidelines of all housing programs, to make location a priority. One of the most relevant was INFONAVIT's loan guidelines for affordable/social housing, in which the key criteria for loans to buy homes would be the house’s location in the existing urban fabric with proximity to schools, parks, hospitals, and public transit.

Guidelines also emphasized collaborating with local governments, strengthening local capacities for implementing planning instruments, with mixed land use considerations and public transit integration, ensuring convenient and well-connected communities.

Challenges

Despite progress since 2018, the current National Housing Policy faces several challenges: a governance model of centralized management with local operation in various federal programs; the need for better coordination with local authorities in addressing planning and basic service provision; land management and more flexible urban norms that enable affordability.; shortage of technical teams on the ground to support implementation.

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References and bibliography:

CTS EMBARQ México. 2014. Guía DOTS para Comunidades Urbanas: Centro de Transporte Sustentable EMBARQ México. Available in: http://www.wrirosscities.org/sites/default/files/Gu%C3%ADa-DOTS-Comunidades-Urbanas_EMBARQ.pdf  

Monkkonen, Paavo. "The Housing Transition in Mexico." Urban Affairs Review 47 (septiembre de 2011): 672-695. doi: 10.1177/1078087411400381.

Secretaría de Desarrollo Agrario, Territorial y Urbano. SEDATU. 2021. Programa Nacional de Vivienda 2021-2024. Diario Oficial de la Federación, 4 de junio de 2021.

Secretaría de Desarrollo Social. SEDESOL. 2012. La expansión de las Ciudades 1980-2010. México: Secretaría de Desarrollo Social