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Casa Verde e Amarela Program delivered more than 1 million homes since 2019

Minister of Regional Development, Rogério Marinho. - Photo: Agência Brasil

 

Committed to reducing the housing deficit in the country, the Federal Government resumed works, expanded the national program for popular housing, Casa Verde e Amarela, and reached, in October 2021, the date of publication of the last balance sheet, the number of 1.2 million units delivered to the population since 2019.

 

The Casa Verde e Amarela Program brings together housing initiatives from the Federal Government to expand the offer of housing for low-income families. The year 2022 promises to be one of more deliveries and more families conquering their own home. The Minister of Regional Development, Rogério Marinho, gives an overview of the program's initiatives and the results obtained.

 

-What advances did the Casa Verde e Amarela Program bring to popular housing in the country?

 

There have been substantial changes. As we don't have the same fiscal framework as previous governments, we had to get creative. So, first, we have the lowest interest rate that the program has ever had in its entire history, 4.25% per year in the North and Northeast and 4.50% in the other regions of the country.

 

The first impact of this is that, in 2020, we increased the hiring of real estate in the Brazilian Northeast by 25% and 12.5% ​​across the national territory, even with the pandemic. Not only did it not stop, but the number of hirings grew. We estimate that 1.8 million families became eligible for the housing program. The family can only commit up to 30% of its income. As the interest rate decreased a lot, this allowed people who earn up to R$ 2 thousand to join the program in a much larger amount, which favored the poorest regions of the country, especially the Northeast.

 

For the first time, the Northeast did not return funds or returned very little. Every year, we make a division according to the demographic constitution and, historically, the Northeast returns from 40% to 50% of the resource that is allocated. In 2020, there was no such return, it was very few, and in 2021, we made a smaller return, which was only made after December 10th, almost at the end of the year.

 

-The program offers subsidies to beneficiaries that facilitate the acquisition of a home. Could you explain to us how this works?

 

In the negotiation with the operating agent, which is Caixa [Económica Federal], we have a subsidy of around R$ 9 billion per year, in addition to subsidized resources with interest well below the market. With inflation of almost 10%, you have an annual interest rate of 4.25%. In addition, the Government places a subsidy that varies from 20% to 10% of the value of the property. The higher the income bracket, the lower the subsidy. Of this subsidy, two thirds went to the operating agent, Caixa, and one third went to the final recipient. We reversed this logic in the negotiation with Caixa and, now, two thirds go to the beneficiary and only one third to the operating agent.

 

-In addition to housing financing, Casa Verde e Amarela works with land regularization to provide families with access to the title that guarantees the real right over the lot, in addition to improving residences for renovation and expansion of the property. In December of last year, the first public notice was launched for the Land Regularization and Housing Improvement Program, which is part of Casa Verde e Amarela. How is this aspect of the Program?

 

For the first time, we instituted a land tenure regularization program. The legislation has existed since 2000. With the Statute of Cities, there was a change in 2017 with the Urban Land Regularization (Reurb), there are hundreds of land regularization projects carried out by city halls. The Federal Government launches a program to support city halls for the first time in more than 20 years, with financial resources, with a technical framework and targeting lower-income families. We expect, in the first year, 150 thousand property titles, at least 20% of these interventions will be added to a small housing improvement, a bathroom, a bedroom, any development.

 

-When it comes to purchasing your own home, one of the biggest difficulties is paying the down payment. Therefore, the Casa Verde e Amarela Program created the Partnerships initiative in which states and municipalities must guarantee a minimum counterpart of 20% of the value of the residential, which may include the land. What is the impact of these partnerships for the beneficiaries?

 

We estimate at least 200 thousand units in partnership with states and municipalities. As I said before, we have a subsidy that reaches up to 20% of the value of the property, so we look for several states and municipalities, they and