Urban squatting as a confrontational repertoire of the housing movements

Abstract

Given the importance of social movements in building a political agenda for Social Housing in Brazil, this article aims to discuss possibilities for a confrontational repertoire of the housing movements in a sociopolitical context characterized by an ultraliberal inflection, with significant transformations in the relationship between Civil Society and State. To accomplish this, we present a case study of an urban squatting in which we analyze the process of settlement and consolidation of Vila Eliana Silva (Belo Horizonte, State of Minas Gerais). The analysis highlights the strategies and repertoires of action that reveal the struggle to fulfil the social function of property, as well as a necessary reflection on possibilities of variations in this confrontational repertoire in the new conjuncture.

urban social movements; urban squatting; social housing; housing policy; political confrontation