This paper discusses the concept of proper housing, showing that the indicators used in Brazil, although adequate for the time and place, do not cover all building conditions that promote health and well-being. It examines the relationship between health and housing by analyzing four dimensions: housing and transmissible diseases, housing and physiological needs, housing and domestic accidents, and housing and mental health. Using data from the 2010 Demographic Census and vital statistics for 2012, the article analyzes the environmental and urban conditions of the city of São Paulo, showing that infant and general mortality patterns vary spatially. The paper ends with a description of the environmental conditions of São Paulo's favelas (shantytowns).
Healthy housing; Housing and health; Housing deficit; Housing in São Paulo