Brazil to Promote New Models for Housing Vulnerable Populations

$54.5 million IDB loan will help Brazilians access affordable housing solutions

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $54.5 million loan to Brazil to launch new housing strategies and improve dwelling quality, primarily for low-income people. This is the first operation of a conditional credit line for investment projects (CCLIP) that can fund up to $600 million in individual investment operations.

The loan’s cross-cutting themes are gender and diversity, climate change and environmental sustainability, and digitalization.

This loan, which was approved by the IDB's Board of Executive Directors, will fund the creation of new, federal-level tools that public, private, and civil society actors can use to facilitate and diversify access to quality housing. The operation’s specific objectives are to connect housing supply and demand; develop and implement a national microfinance program that allows low-income families to make sustainable improvements to their homes; and strengthen the national housing plan by promoting social and environmental sustainability and by training subnational government officials and industry professionals.

According to data from 2019, about 30 million households in Brazil live in substandard homes or lack housing altogether, a problem that overwhelmingly affects the low-income population. Of this total, the quantitative housing deficit is estimated at 5.9 million households and is expected to increase by 1.2 million per year until 2030 as new households are formed. But the largest portion of Brazil’s housing deficit is qualitative: inadequate homes exceeded 24 million in 2019. Housing in this category lacks basic infrastructure (water, sanitation, energy) or legal land tenure, or the structures are precarious.

The new national housing program “My house, my life,” launched in 2023 under the leadership of the National Housing Secretariat (SNH) of Brazil’s Ministry of Cities, addresses these two challenges. It seeks to boost the number of new houses being built, improve existing housing, and strengthen institutions. The initiative focuses on the most vulnerable groups, like low-income people, women, and people with disabilities.

To enable this housing transformation, Brazil will become the region’s first country to create a national digital platform with information on housing demand and supply, which will allow it to respond more effectively to the housing deficit. The creation of a federal first-loss guarantee for housing improvement microloans will attract private investment to the housing sector and promote more affordable financing. In addition, the program will implement training plans for architects and engineers so they can specialize in housing improvements that are socially and environmentally sustainable and climate resilient.

The final beneficiaries of this program will be low-income families, subnational governments (states and municipalities), private-sector agents, and civil society.