CAF discussed challenges facing the region to combat urban informality

The seminar was held over two days, the first of which in the city of Buenos Aires, where CAF authorities and representatives of national and local governments from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and the Dominican Republic, delved into the need for an articulating and comprehensive vision of public housing policy, ensuring access to basic services, such as education and healthcare, contributing to the recovery and integration of communities and favoring environmental resilience.

The second session, held at CAF’s headquarters in Montevideo, was kicked off with remarks by CAF's Corporate Vice President of Strategic Programming, Christian Asinelli, who offered a global view of the housing problem in the continent.

“Rapid urbanization and lack of planning leads to one in four people in our region living in informal settlements. Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region in the world, with 80% of its population residing in cities, but with great inequality, and poverty at 30%. This should pose a moral question of how multilateral organizations, civil society and the government can change that reality,” he said.

Faced with this scenario, Asinelli noted that the financial institution must focus on reducing the housing deficit not only in terms of quantity, but also in quality, creating better urban environments, more green spaces, more access to jobs, education and healthcare, with an inclusive and sustainable view that incorporates gender and diversity, as well as resilience to climate change.

In this regard, he stressed that CAF works together with national and sub-national governments in the implementation of public policies that contribute to the development of an inclusive and sustainable urban model to offer a higher quality of life for all people of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In addition, CAF Representative in Uruguay François Borit emphasized the importance of creating these meeting spaces that “foster knowledge among different countries to exchange enriching experiences and promote collaboration.”

In this context, he explained that CAF is taking on the role of articulator of initiatives through the promotion of knowledge, financing, technical cooperation, fostering debates and consensus.

The meeting featured the keynote presentation of Brazil’s former Minister of Cities and expert in housing policies and urban development Inês Magalhães, who highlighted urban informality as one of the main pillars that public policy must address in the 21st century to overcome extreme poverty in the region, and highlighted the role of housing as an instrument of inclusion and economic development, mainly in the post-pandemic era.

The session also included two panels with high-level housing and habitat officials in the region, where visions were shared on urban and social integration policies for informal settlements as part of a broader approach to the region’s housing deficit.

In that connection, the Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning, Irene Moreira, referred to the fact that there are currently 200,000 Uruguayans living in 650 such settlements throughout the country.

This reality prompted the coalition government to establish the housing solution as a national policy, but using a holistic, coordinated approach to provide a nationwide response.

In this regard, the ministry created the National Directorate of Social and Urban Integration (DINISU), which works in coordination with other institutions to improve the quality of life of the population in vulnerable situations and designed a project to establish a formal registry of makeshift settlements, as well as an infrastructure of Geospatial Information of Territorial Planning (IIGOT), which is fundamental for decision-making with updated information, and that CAF is supporting through technical cooperation resources.

Furthermore, a second instance was developed to discuss how the design of effective programs, in terms of access to information, sustainability and access to financing, can contribute to the effectiveness and scalability of programs for the integration of informal settlements. The panel was attended by CAF authorities, officials from Uruguay’s Ministry of Housing and Territorial Planning, and representatives of civil society and the private sector from the FOVISEE Foundation and the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment.

The closing ceremony was led by manager of Urban Development, Water and Creative Economies Ángel Cardenas, who reflected on the quality, comprehensiveness and scalability approach that CAF wants to give to the issue. “Investing in quality housing can be a vector of development if it is approached from a comprehensive perspective, since adequate housing is the result of articulation of implementation of all the sustainable development goals in cities,” said Cárdenas.

In Argentina, the seminar ended with a tour of the guests to Barrio Rodrigo Bueno, one of the three resource-poor neighborhoods whose integration CAF has been supporting since 2019 through a USD 100 million loan. The tour was led by Gabriel Mraida, president of the Housing Institute of the City of Buenos Aires and his team. Meanwhile, during the session in Uruguay, participants visited the COVICIVI 1 and 2 projects, two housing cooperatives located in Ciudad Vieja, Montevideo, in coordination with Raúl Vallés, director of the Center for Housing and Habitat of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and City Planning at UDELAR.