ABSTRACT
The Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza city, as a large Brazilian metropolis, is not an exception
of the socio-spatial segregation processes in their metropolitan expansion movements. The
urban housing problem in the Ceará Metropolis is characterized by the strong expansion of
slums, clandestine residential land division in the outskirts, marginalizing great part of the
population from the formal real estate market due to its low purchasing power and to the
housing price, which is a speculation target. In order to meet these changes, during the 70s
and 80s, it was expanded the housing projects of COHAB-CE in the edge of the capital and in
the nearby cities, creating new urban expansion fronts, which brings with itself new spaces for
speculation and segregation, becoming feature of the urban landscape. Nevertheless, it will be
in this context, accurately in FHC's term (Fernando Henrique Cardoso), that will be launched
the Residential Lease Program (Programa de Arrendamento Residencial – PAR) in 1999,
which in theory is a “housing policy for the low-income population (up to eight times the
minimum wage) for residential rental housing units, with a purchase option at the end of the
term of 180 months (15 years)” As far as the historical moment is concerned, PAR (Programa
de Arrendamento Residencial, Residential Lease Program) takes on a particular importance,
because it is situated in a historical link between two “landmarks” of the Brazilian housing
policies, which are the end of the BNH (National Bank of Habitation) and the creation of the
Department of the Cities. The first landmark was marked by the phase of a “gap” in the
housing policies, the municipalization, the rise of self-financing, the enlargement of the
housing shortage, the multitude of disconnected housing programs, but also due to the tough
debate about new solutions for the housing matter in Brazil. As a second landmark, we had
the creation of the department of the Cities, in 2003, period of the first term of Lula, with deep
changes in the directions of the housing policies, which go through a process of centralization,
but also a larger approximation of the real estate market to the State. This change had an
effect on the Residential Lease Program (PAR), being up to us to carry out a timeline,
throughout its existence, in three stages: beginning, implementation and extinction. In this
sense, this study aims to understand the logic of the PAR embodiment in the metropolitan
area of Fortaleza from the relationship among its agents in the multiple scales. The
methodology of this research is composed by literature review through a bibliographical and
documental survey. Research in libraries, enrollment data and information from the
institutions responsible for implementing the program, such as Caixa Econômica Federal –
CEF, among other stakeholders. The conclusions point to a program which, although it shows
11
national guidelines, in its execution it took local peculiarities according to the relationship of
the agents involved in its production, like the closer relationship: building companies/CEF,
and the absence of the local public power in the case of Ceará. Its performance is marked by
ups and downs due to the historical moment of change in which it is. Its production in the
Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza (RMF – Região Metropolitana de Fortaleza) is marked by a
pulverization of its gated communities in the poor edge of the metropolitan spaces, leading the
new worker class to these areas, as well as a new process of appreciation of the urban land.
Keywords: Residential Lease Program. Metropolitan space of Fortaleza. Embodiment.
Agents
