Lula da Silva recreates affordable housing program for Brazilian families with incomes below U$1,500

In a political event and the tone of an electoral campaign, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) signed this Tuesday (14) a provisional measure that recreates “Minha Casa Minha Vida” (My Home, My Life), one of the main marks of the previous PT administrations.

The program will serve families living in urban areas with a gross monthly family income of up to R$8,000 (US$1,500), allow social rentals or purchase of used housing in the cities, and include homeless families.

Lula da Silva took a picture with residents of the new homes at a ceremony in Santo Amaro (BA), a city near Salvador.

One of the beneficiaries gestured the letter “L” with her hand while posing next to the president and politicians.

The affordable housing program was renamed in 2021 as “Casa Verde e Amarela” by then-president Jair Bolsonaro.

President Lula da Silva repealed law 14,118, and the benefit was renamed “Minha Casa Minha Vida”.

With the recreation of the program, families living in rural areas and with a gross annual income of up to R$96,000 will also be eligible.

Benefits such as sick pay, accident allowances, unemployment insurance, BPC (Continuous Cash Benefit), and Brazil Allowance (which should have its name changed to “Bolsa Família” in March) will not be counted for the calculation of gross income.

Facilitating access to affordable housing is a powerful election tool.

At the ceremony on Tuesday, President Lula da Silva was accompanied by politicians who should also win at the polls with the program’s relaunch.

Standing next to the president in the official photos at the Planalto Palace was the Minister of Cities Jader Filho (MDB), the governor of Bahia Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT), the mayor of Santo Amaro, Alessandra Gomes (PSD), and the vice-governor of Bahia, Geraldo Junior (MDB).

One of the program’s focuses now will be the financing for range 1, which had been extinguished by the previous program and is destined for lower-income families.

Half of the financing must be authorized for this group, whose gross income must be up to R$2,640.

The amount is equivalent to 2 minimum wages, considering the stipulated value of R$1,320 as of May.

According to the government, the subsidy practiced in this category varies historically from 85% to 95% of the property’s value.

Before going on stage to give a speech in Santo Amaro, Lula visited one of the decorated units. Then he handed over the keys to three local families.

684 properties were delivered in the Vida Nova Santo Amaro 1 and Residencial Vida Nova Sacramento residential unitsn with construction stalled since 2016.

The president used an electoral approach in his speech.

He quoted his predecessor again, saying he had not finished assembling his team because he needed to “take out Bolsonarists hiding there by the pile.”

He affirmed that Bolsonaro, whom he called “Bozo,” went “to hide in the United States”.

“We are governing the country again in the expectation of improving the quality of life of the Brazilian people. […] I came here to begin to prove that we can rebuild another country, where the Brazilian people will go back to eating, living, studying, working, and having access to everything everyone has the right to have,” said Lula.

The Minister of the Cities, Jader Filho, affirmed during the event that Minha Casa Minha Vida should make possible 1 million new direct and indirect jobs throughout the country besides being a housing program.

“The program also has this effect of moving the economy. It is a priority for the ministry”.

In the resumption of “Minha Casa Minha Vida”, the federal government delivered 2,745 houses in 9 cities in 6 states: Bahia, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Pernambuco, and Paraná.

The federal administration said R$206.9 million were invested in concluding the works.

It is also expected that, by 2026, 2 million homes will be delivered through the program.

Ministers Alexandre Silveira (Mines and Energy), Cida Gonçalves (Women), Luciana Santos (Science and Technolog,y) and the executive secretary of the Civil House, Miriam Belchior, delivered houses of the program in Contagem (MG), Goiânia (GO), João Pessoa (PB) and Lauro de Freitas (BA), respectively.

The deliveries were simultaneous to Lula’s event.

In the announcement, the government also pointed out that the new developments will be closer to shops, services, and public facilities and will have better infrastructure in the surrounding area.

One of the main problems in the past PT administrations was the location of some residential complexes built in remote regions without public transportation.

DIVISION IN URBAN RESIDENCES

Urban range 1 – monthly family gross income up to R$2,640;
Urban range 2 – monthly gross family income from R$2,640.01 to R$4,400;
Urban range 3 – monthly gross family income from R$4,400.01 to R$8,000.

DIVISION FOR FAMILIES LIVING IN RURAL AREAS

Rural range 1 – annual family gross income up to R$31,680;
Rural range 2 – annual gross family income from R$31,680.01 to R$52,800;
Rural range 3 – annual gross family income from R$52,800.01 to R$96,000.

According to the government, the houses can be offered as a cession, donation, rental, lending, leasing, or sale, with or without financing.

Some requirements prioritize the delivery of titles to women.

Among others are:

• Families that have in their family composition people with disabilitiesolder peoplele, and children and adolescents;
• Families in situations of risk and vulnerability;
• Families in emergency or calamity areas;
• Families in involuntary displacement due to federal public works;
• Families in street situation.

Also, according to the government, there is a housing deficit of 5.9 million households and another 24.8 million with some inadequacy, according to 2019 data.

The country also has 281,000 people living on the streets, according to a preliminary study by Ipea (Institute for Applied Economic Research) from 2022.

During his speech, the president said he would intensify his travel agenda around the country in the coming weeks to resume stalled works.

According to him, there are 14,800 projects in this situation throughout the country.

“We will start working on them so that this country can get back on its feet, turning around, spinning, and producing economic growth. As of today, we will not stop. I will only stop at Carnival because I also need to dance a little”, he said, provoking laughter from the audience.

In a nod to the mayors, he also affirmed that the federal administration would not leave the small and medium-sized municipalities aside.

“It is impossible to imagine the country being rich if the cities are poor. […] Mayors can know that the federal government will not fail you. Our doors will be open in the next four years,” he declared.

For the “Minha Casa Minha Vida” event, Lula da Silva disembarked from the presidential plane in Salvador.

Then he went to Santo Amao (about 80 km from the Bahian capital).

Besides the authorities already mentioned above, Lula was also accompanied at the event by the ministers Rui Costa (Civil House), Márcio Macêdo (General Secretary), Paulo Teixeira (Agrarian Development), Wellington Dias (Development and Social Assistance), Márcio França (Ports and Airports). Also with the president were senators Jaques Wagner (PT-BA) and Otto Alencar (PSD-BA).

In Santo Amaro, the president visited one of the “Minha Casa Minha Vida” properties.

The Planalto Palace made an elaborate video to show what these homes look like from the inside.

Although in the promotional images, the house appears furnished, the beneficiaries do not receive the property with all these items.

With information from Poder360