Vivienda gratuita ¿un regalo insostenible?

Abstract

Social housing policies in Colombia have undergone changes in their conception until arriving at the current model of subsidizing demand in construction and financing by the private sector. It is in this context that the Comprehensive Housing Policy emerged, and one of its most controversial programs is the Free Housing Program (PVG). The article questions the fulfillment of the 100,000 free housing program as planning for urban mega-projects in a context of uncertainty. To do so, it makes a critical analysis of the PVG and the National Development Plan of the Juan Manuel Santos government from 2010 to 2014 and from 2014 to 2018, with which it formulates five assumptions that the program must fulfill: housing as a locomotive of progress, free housing as an opportunity for the vulnerable population, reduction of multidimensional poverty, 100,000 houses in two years at the country level and free housing for the post-conflict. The analysis of each assumption reveals porosities or fissures not foreseen in the planning, questioning its rationality in the contingency. The article concludes with a reflection on the sustainability of the programme and alternative points of view for its completion.