Between developmentalism and welfare: the political economy of housing the urban poor in 1990s Latin America

This dissertation examines Latin America’s historical attempts to address urban housing precarity during the 1990s through market-based social housing policies, focusing on Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay. It assesses how these policies, shaped by national coalition- building challenges, historical social policy frameworks, and state capacities, failed to resolve housing issues. Despite advancements in housing studies, the dual nature of housing as both a social good and a commodity—along with its complex social, financial, and spatial connections within the capitalist economy—remains insufficiently understood. This research employs a Marxist-inspired perspective to explore the nuances and shortcomings of the post- Cold War mixed economy governance in Latin America, situated between economic developmentalism and political liberalisation. It revisits concepts of post-structural development deploying the notion of 'privatised Keynesianism.' Latin American governments, aiming to stimulate housing markets, exacerbated economic instability by subsidising debt-financed consumption of market-produced social housing. Contrary to optimistic expectations about the spillover effects of financial liberalisation, this approach led to increased household indebtedness and deteriorating housing conditions. The dissertation reveals how the shift to market-oriented social housing policies and overwhelming focus on macroeconomic demand stimulation, intensified the link between liberalised financial markets and housing beneficiaries. To avoid confronting the wealthy while addressing poverty, the new welfare regime rather relied on informal housing solutions, such as self-built homes and cooperative models, pointing to the inherent capitalist dichotomy between the right to housing and the right to the city. Those intricacies fundamentally altered state-market-citizen relations and the spatial dynamics of modern cities.