Evaluating the impact of social housing policies: Measuring accessibility changes when individuals move to social housing projects

Addressing housing deficits and inequalities remains a key challenge for cities in promoting more sustainable urban development. In response to these challenges, governments around the world, particularly in the Global South, have made substantial investments in housing policies for middle- and low-income individuals. Nevertheless, while these initiatives increase housing provision, they often face criticism for not adequately considering the location of new residences. This oversight has far-reaching effects on the accessibility to essential facilities, which play a pivotal role in determining spatial advantages and disadvantages, and consequently, in the degree of inclusion of individuals in both the city and society. Addressing this critical role of accessibility, this paper introduces a methodology for assessing the potential impact of housing policies on the lives of their beneficiaries, by quantifying changes in cumulative accessibility levels between individuals' former house locations and the location of the housing projects into which they moved. Accessibility is calculated for three distinct transport modes: walking, cycling, and public transport, using unimodal and multimodal urban network models. A case study was conducted in Natal, northeastern Brazil, on the implementation of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life, MCMV) housing policy, initiated in 2009 and still active today. The results of the study revealed a significant decrease in accessibility across all transportation modes when individuals moved to the new housing estates. The decline was particularly pronounced among individuals with lower incomes, potentially raising their regular expenses after relocation and, ultimately, leading to spatial isolation and social exclusion. These findings demonstrate the contribution of the methodology to capturing the impacts of housing policies on the everyday accessibility of their beneficiaries, while emphasizing the importance of re-evaluating these policies with a particular focus on fostering the social and urban inclusion of beneficiaries.