Mexico’s housing paradox : the political economy of inaccessibility and vacancy

Neoliberal restructuring in Mexico drove a considerable mortgage expansion and a housing production boom, arguably with the intention of increasing housing access for lower-middle income formal workers. During the 2000s, numerous households acquired mortgages to buy houses in the fringes of Mexican cities, where local governments have struggled to provide adequate infrastructure and services. Many such families have seen their mortgages and monthly payments swell through the years while their debt remains virtually unchanged, forcing many of them to leave their dwellings behind and return to renting or to living with other relatives closer to the urban core. Numerous newly built developments have thus exhibited alarmingly high housing vacancy rates. By 2010, Mexico had over five million vacant housing units and a 14 percent vacancy rate. Paradoxically, however, about a third of Mexicans still live in poor housing conditions. This research analyzes the influence of recent federal housing finance policy, and urban development practices at the state and local levels, in promoting housing production and vacancy. It also discusses some of the spatial and socioeconomic implications of these development patterns for residents, government and financing institutions, and developers. In particular, this research examines the experiences of two cases: Tijuana, Baja California and Huehuetoca, State of Mexico, chosen for (1) the severity of their vacancy and housing conditions, (2) the amount of housing investment they received in the 2000s, and (3) their contrasting institutional capacity at the local and metropolitan levels. Drawing upon mixed methods and extensive field research, I argue that the coexistence of a housing oversupply and a shortage exposes the tensions between the commodification and the right to housing, and the extent to which the former has trumped the latter. Given the flourishing of construction and real estate interests through state support, Mexican housing policy has served as a politically guided intensification of market rule, rather than as an apolitical and technocratic framework, as neoliberal advocates have often argued. Contrary to the rhetoric of autonomous market-led efficiency, the Mexican government has played a key role in mitigating risks for the construction and financial sectors – and not households. By doing so, housing reforms have lacked a critical analysis of the socioeconomic and political implications of implementing strategies that have backed private interests in the name of expanding home ownership for the poor while in reality many low-income households remain locked out of adequate and affordable homes. The present research has implications for theories regarding how governing regimes operate to facilitate growth. The interactions and relationships between different government levels and private actors and interests since the implementation of a new housing finance and development model in Mexico have stemmed elaborate power structures and a multi-level regime and complex system of governance, distinct from that described by regime theorists whose focus has generally been on local governance (Stone 1989). Furthermore, this research exemplifies the ways in which this multi-level regime has reproduced and intensified socioeconomic and political (decision-making) inequities, ultimately fracturing the housing model itself.Community and Regional Plannin

Planificación para el proyecto de construcción: centro de aprendizaje infantil, iglesia de Dios central, Nagarote, León

La investigación propone la elaboración de la planificación de obra de la construcción del centro de aprendizaje infantil en el municipio de Nagarote, departamento de León. El barrio San Martín, de la ciudad de Nagarote, fue escogido para la ejecución del proyecto, con el objetivo de mejorar la calidad de educación de este lugar

Sistematización de experiencia sobre iniciativa del proyecto Manos a la Paz del programa de Naciones Unidas para el desarrollo (PNUD) y del Ministerio del Postconflicto.

Esta sistematización de experiencias se hace desde una mirada autobiográfica en la medida en que lo que busco es comprender cómo distintos procesos de comunicación-educación en lenguaje sonoro han contribuido al empoderamiento de quienes participamos en ellos. No sólo a quienes son denominados “beneficiarios” de distintos proyectos, a saber: estudiantes y maestros de colectivos de comunicación escolar en colegios públicos de Bogotá y líderes sociales y juveniles, sino como comunicadores comunitarios de las regiones de la Macarena y los Montes de María, sino a quienes, como yo, hemos hecho parte de los equipos de trabajo que desarrollan estos procesos de formación

Sistematización de experiencia sobre iniciativa del proyecto Manos a la Paz del programa de Naciones Unidas para el desarrollo (PNUD) y del Ministerio del Postconflicto.

Esta sistematización de experiencias se hace desde una mirada autobiográfica en la medida en que lo que busco es comprender cómo distintos procesos de comunicación-educación en lenguaje sonoro han contribuido al empoderamiento de quienes participamos en ellos. No sólo a quienes son denominados “beneficiarios” de distintos proyectos, a saber: estudiantes y maestros de colectivos de comunicación escolar en colegios públicos de Bogotá y líderes sociales y juveniles, sino como comunicadores comunitarios de las regiones de la Macarena y los Montes de María, sino a quienes, como yo, hemos hecho parte de los equipos de trabajo que desarrollan estos procesos de formación

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia Departamentos Amazonas, Boyacá, Meta y Vichada.

El presente documento se realiza a partir del análisis de las subjetividades, de los casos de Jennifer Pinzón y el Municipio de Panduri, los cuales son una muestra de las miles de historias del pueblo Colombiano, debido a su guerra interna de más de 50 años, donde han sido afectados distintas generaciones, de forma directa o indirecta, afectando desde la salud mental y física, como la estabilidad económica y democrática del país, sin embargo con las nuevas políticas se pretende lograr encontrar la paz, pero para llegar a esta meta es necesario un periodo de transición al cual se le llama posconflicto, el cual requiere de personal capacitado para desarrollar proyectos sociales que ayuden a reconstruir el tejido social que se ha perdido a causa de este conflicto interno. Es por esto que mediante el acercamiento con la realidad del país y el análisis detallado de los casos propuestos para este fin, se pretende generar un aprendizaje significativo de los temas propuestos durante este diplomado, ya que durante del desarrollo de este documento, se podrán a pruebas los conocimientos adquiridos, desde el análisis hasta una propuesta de intervención social, lo cual permite desarrollar nuevas competencias en los estudiantes, formando profesionales capacitados en intervención de comunidades que han sido víctimas de la violencia o victimarios.This document is carried out starting from the analysis of the subjectivities, of the cases of Jennifer Pinzon and the Municipality of Panduri, which is an example of the thousands of histories of the Colombian town, do its internal war of more than 50 years, where different generations have been affected, in a direct or indirect way, affecting from the mental and physical health, as the economic and democratic stability of the country, however with the new norms it is sought to be able to find the peace, but to arrive to this goal it is necessary a period of transition to which is called post conflict, which requires of personnel qualified to develop social projects that will help to reconstruct the social fabric that has gotten lost because of this internal conflict. Is because of this that the approach with the reality of the country and the detailed analysis of the cases proposed for this which, we pretend to generate a significant learning of the topics proposed during this grade, since during of the development of this document, they will be able to tests the acquired knowledge, from the analysis until a proposal of social intervention, that which allows to develop new competitions in the students, forming professionals qualified in intervention of communities that have been victims of the violence at the country