Abstract
Cape Verde has a shortage of housing and a large informal occupation of the territory, a direct expression of a slow response of the housing policy since its independence in 1975. This chapter offers an analysis of the history of housing policies, their models and forms of interventions in the context of the constitution and consolidation of the state in Cape Verde. It identifies the strategy, actors, instruments and means for the implementation of the housing policy in Cape Verde. The ‘Casa para Todos’ program or ‘House for All’ is part of the housing policy that seeks an answer to the housing question in Cape Verde. As an innovative instrument in housing policy, it is important to explore its form of intervention and its social impact, especially in the case of ‘Habitar CV’, as well as to reflect on the relevance of this instrument in the mitigation of vulnerability and social risk. The housing policies implemented are still insufficient to respond to the present housing needs. This study discusses the historical path and current achievements, still ongoing in the country, and reflects on the adequacy of the housing policy in Cape Verde in the post-independence period and the challenges and opportunities it offers for urban governance in the country.
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9.1 Introduction
After 45 years of public housing policies in Cape Verde, as an independent state, the country continues marked by a high proportion of citizens living in poor housing conditions. Part of it is the outcome of the current local and urban governance system in the country. This chapter aims, thus, to present an analysis of Cape Verde’s housing policies over the last 5 years of the colonial period and during the post-independence period.Footnote 1 The analysis has a national focus but presents also more detailed findings for some cities. It is based on an analysis of the legislation, official documents, statistics on housing and on social housing, whose aim is to highlight the models adopted and the trends observed in the housing policies implemented in the country in the last 50 years. It is focused on social housing or housing of social interest,Footnote 2 which means housing financed, built, or rented by the state, generally for people with low incomes, characterized by affordable rents, or even by loans for housing financing with low interest rates.
In Cape Verde, the issue of social housing is addressed in several studies prepared by the central government, with technical support from the UN, through ministerial services, such as the National Strategic Housing Plan (MAHOT 2010), the National Urban Profile of the Republic of Cape Verde (UN -HABITAT 2013b) and the Urban Profile of Cidade da Praia (UN-HABITAT2013a), as well as the Housing Sector Profile (UN 2019a) and the National Housing Plan (UN 2019b). However, the scientific production on the issue of housing in Cape Verde is scarce. Even so, works such as Delgado (2011) and Rodrigues (2015) do address public housing policies in the country, or that of Tavares (2013) on the issue of housing shortage. Somehow related to the issue of social housing policy is the existence of a large proportion of citizens living in informal housing in the main urban settlements, as reported in Carneiro (1990), Allegretti et al. (2021), Silveira (2011), Nascimento (2010) and Silva (2014), among many others.
The chapter addresses the following research question: ‘To what extent did the housing policy in Cape Verde in the last half century contributed to reduce the housing deficit?’ and ´To what extent did the social housing policy met the social needs in each period since the independence of Cape Verde?’
In trying to answer these research questions, the chapter follows different research lines of inquiry or hypotheses. The central research line is this: The housing policy measures and programmes should be differentiated according to the social classes. The second, linked to this, is that social housing programmes should be defined according to the specific socio-economic conditions of the target population. The research methodology is based on the data collected, mainly from written and drawn sources, but also from interviews with key stakeholders during the fieldwork carried out in Cape Verde over 3 years of permanence in the country. The written sources were consulted in Cape Verde and in Portugal. In Cape Verde, data were collected in the archives of IFH – Imobiliária, Fundiária e Habitat, SA, former Instituto Fomento à Habitação. In Portugal, the research was done mainly in the Library of the National Civil Engineering Laboratory and in the Overseas Historical Archive. And since this study is focused on housing issues, and inherently on the urban experience of the space that integrates housing and planning, a general approach to the different processes of spatial planning, building and requalification of housing, in the context of regeneration of informally urbanized areas, has also been done. The analysis considers the two periods of the political regime in the post-independence period.
The chapter, besides this Introduction and the conclusion, is structured in the following sections: The first section presents the evolution of the housing deficit and the characterization of the housing stock. Next, the social housing policies are presented, first during the colonial period (1970–1975) and then in the post-Independence period (1975–2020) – the current legislation, the instruments and programs.
9.2 Housing in CAPE VERDE: Conditions and Challenges
According to the survey on traditional housing (MU 1965a) in Praia and Mindelo, which recorded the type of local housing, a large part of the population, the poorest lived in humble houses, lacking hygiene and comfort, sometimes made of stone and mud, and very often simple straw huts (Figs. 9.1 and 9.2).Footnote 3
Housing Survey 1965. (Source: MU 1965a)
Housing Survey 1965. (Source: MU 1965a)
Cape Verde’s cities had an accelerated growth, the result of an urban expansion resulting from the influx of rural population into the main cities, namely in the seventies of the last century. Spontaneous urban peripheries appear in areas without a ‘plan’, which originated informal suburbs without proper living conditions, especially close to the large urban centres of Praia and Mindelo and, more recently, Espargos (Ilha do Sal) and Sal-Rei (Island of Boa Vista), but in the latter two cases due to the increase in tourist activity.
The data in the I General Census of Population and Housing (RGPH) in 1980, the Census 80, and the population surveys that followed, namely in cities such as Praia, Mindelo, São Filipe and Espargos (Table 9.1), showed clearly that the governmental responses in the field of urbanism and housing were far from enough and adequate considering the existent needs and those forecasted. There was no stock of housing with proper living conditions that could accompany this population growth and respective demand for housing. There was already a housing deficit in the first year post independence (MPC 1985).
From 1970 to 1990, the population of Cape Verde registered a population increase of 25%, going from 270,999 to 341,491 inhabitants. In 1970, the urban population was 53,086 inhabitants (19.5% of the national population). In 1990, the urban centres already had 46% of the resident population (150,599 inhabitants) (MPC 1985) (Table 9.2).
In 2000, 50% of families had access to energy supply, having risen to 59% at the time of the IDRFFootnote 4 2001/2002 and reaching 74% in 2007 in the QUIBBFootnote 5 – 2007. About 85% of families had access to drinking water, with 39% having piped water at home. About 50% of all families had a toilet; however, the sewerage system is very precarious in most cities. As for waste, 54% evacuate garbage through a garbage collection container or cart in 2006, in the QUIBB – 2006 (UN 2010).
The National Strategic Housing Plan 2011–2021 reveals that the housing sector is characterized by large regional and local asymmetries, in what regards the qualitative deficit (need for rehabilitation/expansion) and the quantitative deficit (need for new housing units), which is confirmed by the 2010 census data (Table 9.3).
Cape Verde has a population of 491,875 inhabitants, spread over 138,948 families, with 62% of the population living in urban areas. There are 192 homeless inhabitants, 117 of which are in the capital. The city of Praia remains the largest population centre with about 25% of the national population (131,719), with 97% considered urban (127,832) (INE 2010).
The 2010 Census registered 141,706 households, of which 116,873 are family households. Of these, 77,115 are in urban areas (about 66%) and 34% are in rural areas. In the municipality of Praia, there were 32,967 accommodations, of which 30,448 were in urban areas (Table 9.4).
In 2010, 713 houses were state property and 386 municipal properties. There were 6001 empty dwellings, of which 4903 were to be rented, 1098 were to be sold and 114,297 were residential buildings, excluding collective housing and other unidentified buildings (Table 9.5).
According to the official data (INE 2010), it can be concluded that in a universe of 116,873 households (Tables 9.6 and 9.7): 35.3% do not have a toilet or latrine, with 16.3% of cases in urban areas; 50.4% have piped watersupply from the public network at home, with 46.9% in urban areas; only 35.3% have a sewer system or septic tank, 32.1% in urban areas, 56.5% the garbage is placed in containers (46.9% in urban areas) and 15.6% is collected by car garbage (13.6% in urban areas); 79.7% use electricity as a source of lighting (58.7% in urban areas); in 70.2% of cases, they use butane gas as a source of energy for cooking (58.1% in urban areas), against 25.6%, who use firewood (4.71% in urban areas) (Table 9.8).
Most Cape Verdean families (67%; 80,051) live in independent houses, of which 42,530 live in urban areas, with a much more pronounced trend in more rural municipalities. Around 31.8% of the families live in apartments (35,100), being a more frequent type of accommodation in urban areas (33,141). The Census registered 1521 families living in barracks, representing 1.3% nationally (1.1% in urban areas); 95 precarious accommodations (67 in urban areas), representing 0.08% nationwide and 0.06% in urban areas; 106 collective accommodations, of which 45 are in urban areas (INE 2010).
According to data from INE 2015, Cape Verde had a housing deficit of around 8.7%, corresponding to 11,119 families, mostly in urban areas. In the municipalities of Praia and São Vicente, the deficit was 3201 and 2762 units, respectively, and in the municipalities of Sal and Boa Vista, respectively, 20.2% (1666) and 16.3% (605) in relative terms. Cape Verde had 39,023 individuals living in housing deficit, mostly on the island of Santiago (17,602 individuals; 45.1% of the total), followed by São Vicente (8744 individuals; 22.4% of the total) (UN 2019a).
In 2018, Cape Verde continued to make progress in responding to the fulfilment of the sustainable development goals defined for the country. Regarding housing, access has improved on numerous aspects: improved sanitary facilities, in particular, access to a toilet (82.9%); improved sources of drinking water, in particular, the supply of water from the public network (86%); electricity supply (90.3%). The use of butane gas for cooking increased (75.4%) at the expense of firewood (INE 2018).
In summary, these findings, based on official documents, published by INE, Ministries, and the UN, show clearly the less positive aspects of the urban housing situation in Cape Verde, almost half a century after the independence. There are still insufficiencies and complex challenges to be faced by the central government and the local government as well. One of these challenges is the construction of permanent housing solutions, and temporary accommodation as well, as a response to the needs of families with lower socio-economic capacity, when the country lives in a situation of generalized and severe housing shortage for all social classes. Another challenge is the control of informal and precarious constructions in the periphery of the main urban centres. A third critical challenge for both the central and local governments in Cape Verde that emerges from these findings is the need to improve the urban infrastructures, a process intimately linked to the spatial planning system and to the overall system of local and urban governance in the country, as examined in the other chapters of the book.
9.3 Social Housing Policies
9.3.1 Social Housing Policies at the End of the Colonial Period (1970–1975)
In the final period of Portuguese colonization in Africa, the Estado Novo was responsible for increasing the processes of occupation of the territory through a set of urban projects and public facilities, which transformed most overseas cities. This moment of development of the colonial city in Cape Verde had as promoters the following: the central government, with projects developed in Lisbon, carried out by technicians from the Ministry of Overseas (MU), more specifically from the Department of Urban Planning and Housing (DSUH); projects under the responsibility of the local Public Works Departments, which worked with specialized technicians (initially designers or engineers, and eventually also architects); and individuals who invested in the overseas provinces through the construction of equipment, namely leisure facilities, commissioning projects from metropolitan professionals established locally or in other Portuguese colonies. The originality of this province was the relative autonomy in the local production of projects, guaranteed by local technicians from the civil service, found above all in the main urban centres – Praia and Mindelo (Milheiro 2012).
The DSUH was the official structure of urban design, architecture, and engineering, based in Lisbon, charged with drawing up new urban plans for the overseas provinces. The technical teams brought together professionals qualified in urbanism and tropical architecture and specialists in tropical medicine and climatology. According to documents consulted in the historical archives,Footnote 6 Eurico Múrias dos Santos, António Carmona Saragga Seabra and Maria Emília Caria are some of the architects who, at the service of the DSUH, were assigned to the missions to Cape Verde.
In reinforcing the policies of the central government, during the Estado Novo, the provincial governments took measures to respond to the new housing needs. Initially, the concern was to house European public administration employees and workers displaced between provinces. However, local populations progressively became recipients of publicly promoted housing, with new housing programs being promoted by the state. In the 1950s, the colonial government began to consolidate its own housing programs, and the 1960s were devoted to studies of local habitats, with greater attention to local communities and deeper knowledge of settlements and local culture (Milheiro 2013).
Recognized as one of the key problems in the studies of the 1965 Mission, the housing problem was also seen as an urban problem. The services started to consider the problems of housing in the outline of the urbanization plans. These new urban plans had as their main objective the preparation of new residential areas or the refurbishment of existing ones, as well as the search for spatial structures and zones that would be able to receive activities to be installed in the city and the needs of the housing and service sectors (MU 1965b).
The team in the Mission prepared the housing survey and a survey that addressed the problems of housing and its integration into population groups, having as object of study the cities of Praia and Mindelo (MU 1965a). When designing new housing models, architects start to consider in the design process the relationship with the place and the recognized the modus vivendi of the local communities receiving the new housing, accentuating the African expression. The construction of elementary housing, with just the ground floor, for housing local populations, was popularized as the preferred housing program of the Estado Novo. Directly inspired by the autochthonous house, the architects worked on the design of typologies (isolated, semi-detached and terraced houses) that interpreted the ancestral model. The technicians worked with the populations to involve them in the self-production of housing using local materials (economical, available and accessible to use) (MU 1965b) (Figs. 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6 and 9.7).
Autochthonous dwelling – rental house, own house, mixed house (from left to right). (Source: MU 1965b)
Autochthonous dwelling – rental house, own house, mixed house (from left to right). (Source: MU 1965b)
Autochthonous dwelling – rental house, own house, mixed house (from left to right). (Source: MU 1965b)
Autochthonous houses – surveyed by DSUH – Praia and Mindelo (from left to right). (Source: MU 1965b)
Autochthonous houses – surveyed by DSUH – Praia and Mindelo (from left to right). (Source: MU 1965b)
In 1970, with population growth and rural exodus, the ‘housing problem’ was already evident. In the public projects and plans, single-family housing was the dominant solution, with two-family semi-detached and terraced housing also being built, as well as two-storey collective housing blocks with around eight units, intended for less-qualified employees (MU 1973) (Figs. 9.8 and 9.9).
Residences for Sergeants and Plazas – Cape Verde, Mindelo, 1968. (Source: MU 1968)
Residences for Sergeants and Plazas – Cape Verde, Mindelo, 1968. (Source: MU 1968)
Although most of these plans have not been implemented, due to the proximity of the independence of the Portuguese colonies, the content of these policies shows a change in colonial urban thinking, namely with the adoption of quantitative methods of analysis, such as surveys of populations and activities, which would determine the zoning and the actions (Milheiro 2012). Housing studies in Cape Verde constituted one of the essential bases of planning in this colony, determining the urban modules of the housing composition in the urbanization plans, considering the types of land plots and forms of grouping recognized as recommendable for each case. In relation to the cities of Praia and Mindelo – the first to have an urbanization plan – these studies aimed to determine the recommended types and levels of housing, in the presence of physical, economic and social conditions, as well as to study the forms of grouping to be integrated into the neighbourhood units. They would form the basis for the elaboration of housing programs for the construction of affordable housing and housing for employees.
As in the Interim Development Plan (MU 1964), the III Development Plan allocated means for investment in the ‘Housing and Local Improvements’ sector, which comprised the construction of affordable housing and housing for employees and interventions in watersupply, in seven islands, and in the sanitation of urban centres – the cities of Praia and Mindelo (MU 1971).
Among the different solutions for ‘economic housing’, developed over several decades, some were conceived based on an evolutionary logic, starting with the existence of an initial nucleus with a very small program (living room, kitchen and toilets). Others, such as the 1973 study for four types of economic houses, were mainly aimed at self-construction, adapted to simple means, and resorting to local techniques and materials, which included the dimensioning of adequate minimum plots of land, adjustable to various topographical conditions. The program also provided for economic housing models aimed at multifamily groups, with a view to responding to housing problems and their relationship with urbanization (Figs. 9.10, 9.11, 9.12 and 9.13).
Type A, B, C and D affordable housing models (from left to right). (Source: MU 1972)
Type A, B, C and D affordable housing models (from left to right). (Source: MU 1972)
Type A, B, C and D affordable housing models (from left to right). (Source: MU 1972)
Type A, B, C and D affordable housing models (from left to right). (Source: MU 1972)
In the last decade of the colonial period, Cape Verde had the particularity of having engineers and architects within the colonial government administration, capable of developing projects and following up on the projects, with the coordination of projects and actions in Cape Verde being led by outstanding architects. Single-family dwellings were a strategic option in terms of housing production, integrated into the logic of the new plans based on low densities. Thus, these public promotion interventions helped to consolidate an image of modernity in the urban African landscape at that time.
9.3.2 Social Housing Policies During the Period of the 1st Republic (1975–1990)
With the first government of the Republic,Footnote 7 the process of reforming the municipal administration began. At the end of 1975, the new municipal administration was set up, temporarily in line with the political and philosophical conceptions of a single-party regime, although administrative decentralization was preserved in the new transitional legislation.
The first constitution of the Republic, promulgated on 7 October, 1980, opened new perspectives for the municipal administration, as the local government. Its organs were elevated to the category of organs of the state. The local government was then instituted as a form of political power in a context of democratic centralism, with the state playing the central role in all domains (Afrosondagem 2013).
In the first years, the process of creation and installation of ministries, embassies and other services demanded the attention of the central government for the immediate need to invest in Cidade da Praia, to create the minimum conditions in the country’s capital to accommodate the growing number of national and foreign staff. These circumstances triggered great expectations of job opportunities and the consequent rural exodus from the interior of Santiago or from the other islands to the two largest urban centres – Praia and Mindelo.
If in the colonial period, Cape Verde was essentially rural, after the independence, the country’s panorama changed and the urban population went from 35.5% in 1980 to 44.1% in 1990. The main urban centres saw the rise and proliferation of informal urban settlements,Footnote 8 a process that started before the independence, but expanded immediately after it. As a result, the two main urban centres, Praia and Mindelo, developed as multifaceted cities, where different urban patterns coexist, from a more organized central nucleus to a very unqualified periphery (UN 2019a). Praia hosted, in 1990, 71,276 inhabitants, 20.9% of the country’s population, while in 1980, this population (57,748) represented only 19.5% (RGP, 1980 and 1990).
Despite this clear shortage of housing and despite the poor living conditions in most of these new informal areas, in the first political constitution of the Republic of Cape Verde (1980), housing is not considered a constitutional right. The ministry responsible for the housing sector was then the Ministry of Housing and Public Works (MHOP), which worked alongside the Ministry of Local and Urban Administration (MALU). The General Directorate of Urban Planning, Housing and Basic Sanitation (DGUHSB), headquartered at MHOP, brought together different departments to develop the necessary tasks in the field of urban planning, housing and basic sanitation. In the housing sector, for instance, in the early 1980s, these governmental departments developed operations to recover the spontaneously built housing areas, or informal housing areas, in the capital city, with the support of the UN, and carried out studies and projects in conjunction with the urban planning sector for new residential areas, as well as the urban planning and infrastructure of land for self-construction (LNEC 1983a).
In this period, municipalities in Cape Verde had very limited autonomy in urban planning. However, they had important responsibilities in stimulating the population to participate in the recovery of spontaneous settlements, as well as in relation to the problems related to their habitat, namely in promotion or construction of social facilities in these informal urban areas.
The Resident Commission was another important stakeholder in this ‘housing policy’ approach in the first years after independence. They had a statute defined in a legal diploma and had an active role in the housing sector and in the urban process, being key players in numerous neighbourhoods. In some cases, they were responsible for carrying out local improvements; actions in the field of public health and social action; the supply, conservation and control of the price of public goods; the provision of social equipment; creation of jobs; the promotion of culture, sport and social animation; and the coordination and general policing of the area when necessary (Afrosondagem 2013).
The Cape Verde Institute for Housing Development was created in 1982, with the objective of managing the state’s housing stock, housing that had been built since independence, which consisted in the distribution of dwellings from this housing stock to the employees of the state, in the collection of housing rents, and the current maintenance of this housing stock. After responding to the housing needs of the employees of the state, funds were channelled towards the public promotion of social housing, although the impact of this type of housing was not significant in the early days (IFH 2010).
Cape Verde had technical and scientific support from Portugal in the context of the Additional Protocol to the Scientific and Technical Cooperation Agreement, in 1979, and successively renewed, as well as the signing of the Cooperation Agreement with the MHOP of Cape Verde, established at the beginning of 1980s, between the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) – Portugal – and the MHOP. Under this Agreement, the Portuguese LNEC developed, in 1983, several projects on the regulation of urban building, housing design, on measures to support the building construction sector, and legislation on urban issues, for instance. The Portuguese LNEC mission team included architects Nuno Portas, António Reis Cabrita, António Baptista Coelho, Vitor Campos and Fernando Gonçalves.
The analysis of the so-called spontaneous urbanization or informal urbanization in Cape Verde allowed the LNEC team to understand its main advantages and disadvantages as a way of producing urban habitat. This work provided guidelines for the development of alternatives to this form of urbanization. LNEC’s cooperation with Cape Verde continued throughout the 1990s, resulting in the improvement of some previous documents, such as studies and manuals on architectural and construction solutions for popular housing in Cape Verde (Figs. 9.14, 9.15 and 9.16).
Study of housing evolution. Narrow land parcel – Type B Solution. (Source: LNEC 1983a)
Evolutionary housing. Perspective. (Source: LNEC 1983a)
Conversion of roof into raised pavement – Constructive detail. (Source: LNEC 1983a)
The document ‘General Scheme of Housing Programs and Sector Financing Measures’ clarifies the actions and measures implemented in the mid-1980s. This scheme defines the main types of housing programs that make up the housing policy framework: (a) Programs of State Promotion; (b) Collective Promotion Program; (c) Private Promotion Program (IFH1984).
The ‘State Promotion’ programs, to be implemented by central government departments, specialized and non-specialized, and by the municipalities, were the responsibility of the central government, which controlled the entire promotion process (land, project and construction), through specialized entities, such as the IFH. In general, they were financed solely from the general budget of the state (OGE) or other state funds and carried out by direct administration or by awarding contracts to construction companies. The dwellings produced were destined either for sale (through subsidized bank credit or ‘resolvable property’-type systems) or for rent.
State promotion was being developed by different central departments for reasons related to the funding that these entities were managing to raise through different ‘projects’ and external aid, which is why it was understood that the ‘centralization’ in a specialized entity (IFH) would not endorse the increase in the global fundraising capacity (IFH1984).
However, at that moment, the idea began to emerge that the function of the IFH could be to contribute to a more effective technical management of the programs for which it had a particular vocation. The opening of protocols for the provision of services between the IFH and non-specialized central government entities was suggested, in which the IFH would be responsible for the management of the projects – location search, projects, construction inspection and management of the houses – while the other entity would be the owner of the work and of the houses and interlocutor with the financing entity (IFH1984).
The ‘Collective Promotion’ programs were based on economic housing cooperatives and popular self-construction associations and were implemented by them. The economic housing cooperatives and the self-construction associations became the executive arm of the housing program to be carried out during that decade. The cooperative and associative sectors ensured the provision of housing for the middle class of the population, allowing the solvent class to continue to directly resort to bank credit (IFH1984).
The ‘Private Promotion’ of housing was carried out through companies or individual promotion of urban buildings. Supported by real estate companies or developers, this type of promotion could also be individual, ‘spontaneous’, and evolutionary. The responsibility for the promotion was entirely assumed by the individuals, with the state limited to acting to create conditions for its viability, to integrate and make compatible these initiatives in the broader frameworks of housing policy and the general operations of economic and social development. This presupposed: (a) the establishment of a specific credit line for construction, respective annual ceiling, and conditions; (b) guaranteeing financing to the purchasers of these dwellings through generic conditions, which could be used for the acquisition of these dwellings and others of isolated individual production; (c) making the credit conditional on the prior negotiation of the cost of the house and respective technical characteristics.
The ‘Individual Private Promotion’, the dominant type of promotion in Cape Verde, consisted of the case-by-case promotion of houses, considered ‘normal or integrated’ when it is part of urbanization plans and is licensed by the municipal services. It was called ‘spontaneous’ when none or only one of the situations occurred. It has very flexible characteristics both in technical standards and in the pace of financing (a house can take a decade to build, be traded in the middle of its construction and be always occupied). It is considered a ‘marginal’ type of promotion because the technical services have proved incapable of ‘integrating’ this phenomenon, which would imply a whole new methodology of action in the financial and technical-administrative field. For these reasons, and because it was believed that the modalities of intervention would lack a certain degree of maturity, some pilot operations were started, restructuring programs for slums, whose experience was intended to be generalized (IFH1984).
In the period of the II PND (1986/90), the implementation of ‘pilot programs’ for housing allowed for the refinement of legal and operational mechanisms and for the structuring of the various intervening bodies as promoting agents (MPC 1985).
A set of programs was implemented in phases, namely: Phase 1 – (i) Pilot program for state construction (by the IFH); (ii) Cooperative pilot program; (iii) Supported popular self-construction pilot program; Phase 2 – (i) Pilot construction program through local authorities; (ii) Mechanisms for financing individual dwellings; Phase 3 – (i) Pilot program for financing companies; (ii) Credit savings system for national residents (IFH1984).
Within the scope of the improvement of informal settlements, the projects, from the 1980s, PROMEBAD (Project for the Improvement of Living Conditions in Degraded Neighbourhoods in the city of Praia) and PACIM (Project for assisted self-construction of Campinho and Ilha de Madeira in the city of Mindelo) were launched, which aimed to support needy families in the reconstruction and expansion of their homes and, in some cases, construction from scratch. These interventions were punctual and without a framework in terms of planning, as well as those of the PAPON and PRAC SAL projects, which are referenced in the official documentation, but without further information or evidence on the ground.
PROMEBAD, a project of the UN-Habitat and the Government of Cape Verde, although having started as an experimental project, is considered the largest and most important project of urban intervention in informal settlements carried out in Cape Verde. It started in 1988, with funds from the African Development Bank and was developed in three neighbourhoods in Praia and was part of the housing program with actions for: (a) expropriation and relocation; (b) self-construction; (c) construction of pilot housing; (d) creation of a credit system for housing. The recourse to the integration and labour of the residents to improve the conditions of their neighbourhoods, with technical support, brought social, economic and political benefits. PROMEBAD was also the embryo of the creation of the FNH/Social Housing Fund (FSH), thus fulfilling two established objectives: ‘to present to the government proposals and suggestions aimed at improving the policy of the housing sector’ and ‘assure the government of an institutional mechanism endowed with technical instruments capable of supporting its housing policy in areas that are not covered by existing national institutions’.
In 1988, the IFH entered the real estate market for the first time, with the construction of the first group of 52 houses in the city of Praia, the housing complex ‘Novo Horizonte’, with bank financing.
In the same year, the central government approved the General Regulation on Construction and Urban Housing (RGCHU) (Decree-Law No. 130/88, of December 31, which revoked the previous colonial regulation, the DL 1043, of June 13, 1950) to face the dynamics of the housing and construction sectors and the increasing shortage of housing and urban services in the main urban centres in Cape Verde.
9.3.3 Social Housing Policies in the Period of the 2nd Republic (1990–2020)
With the revision of the Constitution of the Republic, in 1992, the local government was strengthened, through the recognition, for the first time, of its full organizational, functional and financial autonomy. Within the framework of the State Reform, the focus was then on the strengthening of decentralization, municipalities and inter-municipality cooperation, supported by a development pact and shared responsibilities between the central and local governments (Table 9.9).
In the 1990s, there was significant population growth, with the resident population rising to 434,625 inhabitants in 2000, of which 53.9% were in urban areas, (INE 2000) and 491,875 inhabitants in 2010, with 61.8% of the inhabitants (303,979) concentrated in urban areas. (INE 2010). Population growth continued, with around 55.7% of the population (274,044 inhabitants) on the island of Santiago and 15.5% on São Vicente. The population living in Praia was estimated at 131,719 inhabitants, being the most populous municipality, followed by São Vicente (76,140 inhabitants) (INE 2010).
At the time of the Habitat II World Conference, in Istanbul, 1996, in Cape Verde, the rural population (184,730 inhabitants) still represented a majority against 156,761 inhabitants in urban centres (UN 1996). The massive spatial mobility of the population towards urban centres continued, exceeding the capacity of municipalities to respond with urban planning and development programs. The municipalities lacked technical staff, technical and financial resources, as well as the cartography at different scales, which made it difficult to obtain detailed and reliable knowledge of the national territory, and subsequently the launch of integrated programs and projects for construction and basic infrastructure (MIT 1996).
The urban phenomenon of informal settlements reached an expression of significant proportions, namely in the city of Praia, capital and administrative centre of the country, where, in 2011, about 57% of the territory was occupied by constructions of illegal origin, according to data from the municipality (CMP 2011).
The Constitution of the Republic of 1992, approved by Constitutional Law No. 1/IV/92, 25 September 1992, only in its second amendment, by Constitutional Law 1/V/99, 23 November, enshrines housing as a constitutional right, in article 71 (Housing and Urbanism), whose content is maintained in the last revision by Constitutional Law No. 1/VII/2010,3 May 2010:
Article 72 (Right to Housing) 1. All citizens have the right to adequate housing. 2. To guarantee the right to housing, it is incumbent, namely, on the public authorities: (a) To promote the creation of adequate economic, legal, institutional and infrastructural conditions, as part of a policy of spatial planning and urbanism; (b) Foster and encourage private initiative in the production of housing and guarantee the participation of those interested in the elaboration of urban planning instruments.
At the beginning of the 2nd Republic, in 1991, the Ministry of Public Works (MOP, formerly MHOP), transferred from the General Directorate of Urbanism, Housing and Environment (DGUHMA) to the IFH the competences: (a) to increase the construction of social housing, which should be provided to low/medium-income citizens and vulnerable social classes; (b) to launch a favourable credit policy for the acquisition or construction of a home, including interest subsidies for low-income families and the creation of housing savings accounts.
As a result of all these institutional changes, between 1991 and 1995, major changes were made to the policy guidelines for the housing sector, with the government establishing new strategic objectives and implementing new measures. There was a redefinition of the role of the state, with the Institute for Housing Development (IFH) becoming the government’s most important entity and instrument for its housing policy,and having financial autonomy, with its own capital, through the national fund for housing, which was created through the alienation of public property. The IFH started to assume its own social programs in the housing sector, designed and executed with or without state support. IFH became then the entity that promotes, programs, coordinates, and supports the activity of the housing sector, starting to privilege commercialization (alienation) over the management of the real estate stock (rental).
Regarding the role of the municipalities, they were able to assume their own social programs in the housing sector, designed and implemented with or without state support. All municipalities should organize themselves and submit applications for the FENU 92/96 program under the Social HousingProgram (MIT 1996).
Regarding private individuals, they were able to participate much more actively in the housing production process, whether organized in real estate, housing associations or cooperatives, or even on an individual level (MIT 1996).
During this period, these housing policy measures were directed, above all, to urban centres, considering the different social classes.
Cape Verde continued to count on the technical and scientific support of Portugal, through additional protocols to the Scientific and Technical Cooperation Agreement and through the cooperation agreements signed successively between LNEC, on the Portuguese side, and the Ministry of Equipment, Planning and Administration Territory (METAP) or Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MIT) of Cape Verde in the following years.
Between 1992 and 1998, under the agreement with LNEC, the studies carried out resulted in the Manual of Constructive Solutions for Popular Housing and the Regulation projects for housing and for self-construction of housing, as well as in the preparatory document for the National Plan for Housing for Cape Verde (1997). In 1996, LNEC presented, as part of the preparatory work for Cape Verde’s IV PND, the National Housing Plan for Cape Verde – Major Options for the IV PND Plan: proposal for the Housing Sector. The ‘Proposal for the Strategic Program of the Cape Verde National Housing Plan’ carried out for the MIT of Cape Verde, financed by the Portuguese Cooperation Institute, was presented at the end of 1998. The National Housing Plan (PNH) consisted of a set of actions to be carried out during the term of the IV PND and aimed at promoting the development of housing and habitat. The strategic program presented the objectives, strategies and policies that should support and guide the set of actions of the NHP.
9.3.3.1 Local Housing Projects and Programs – 1990–2010
At the end of 1991, the ‘Social Housing Credit’ (Housing Credit System), financed by the United Nations Equipment Fund (FENU), and the Social Program for Economic Housing of the Municipality of Praia ‘PROMEBAD II’, being financed by the EEC, were interconnected, with converging objectives: to face the disorderly and accelerated growth of the great national urban centres; proceed with the territorial planning of housing areas; provide neighbourhoods with sanitary infrastructure and social facilities; attributing bank credits to the disadvantaged strata for self-construction (MNE 1991).
The creation of the FSH organizationFootnote 9 and the transformation of PROMEBAD I into national projects – PROMEBAD II – meant a qualitative improvement, not only in relation to the Experimental Project that was PROMEBAD I but also in relation to the national intervention strategy in the Sector of social housing.
The PROMEBAD II program was institutionalized as a municipal project, with administrative, technical and financial autonomy, directly dependent on the government delegate. It was considered a ‘Community Development Support Office’ acting at the municipality level and endowed with technical and financial capacity to support community development at both urban and rural level. Its objective was to respond to the appeal of the communities either for support in improving the social organization of the neighbourhood (through the project’s social team) or to design and carry out community projects (architecture, engineering, sanitation, economic development, and so on), as well as supporting the technical follow-up of the works, among other aspects. It was a comprehensive type of project, which also took the municipal support to disadvantaged sections of the municipality, with the aim of becoming institutionalized, at the national level, as a municipal service, especially given the creation of the FNH (National Housing Fund) and the autonomy of municipalities (MNE 1991).
The Local Government Act assigned competences on land use to the municipalities, providing them with the conditions to proceed with the relocation of residents in slums and the eradication of barracks when necessary.
The PROMEBAD reinforced the support to the municipalities in this field. With the decentralization process, the municipalities gained greater autonomy and capacity to intervene, having thus been able to develop other housing and/or rehabilitation projects and programs, although a national policy on systematized housing policy did not yet exist.
Within the scope of the improvement of informal settlements, it is also worth mentioning initiatives, such as those of the NGO ‘Movimento África’70’, and cooperative projects, such as COOPAC/CV (Cooperative for the Self-Building of the Cidade Velha/Old City), which helped in the reconstruction and construction of own houses (Neves 2014), and as other small projects, promoted by associations, such as the “Nô esdôb compô bô casa” Project.
In the post-independence period, the NGO África’70, an Italian organization, began by supporting the government in the process of administrative decentralization by facilitating technical assistance to new municipalities. The local development interventions of the NGO África’70 began in the 1980s with actions to support the training of technical offices in several local municipalities, aiming at the integration of good practices in municipal structures. The cooperation project, pilot in Cape Verde, developed in partnership with the Municipality of Sal, for the construction of the social district ‘África 70’ on the island of Sal, for the relocation of families from the spontaneous neighbourhoods of Alto São João and Alto Santa Cruz and the consequent eradication of the barracks built there. With the support of the community, 70 houses and the respective primary infrastructure (road network, piped water network and electricity network) and secondary urban infrastructure (e.g. schools) were built. The ‘Project for the Integration of Informal Neighbourhoods of the City of Praia (Cape Verde)’ carried out through a partnership between the NGO África’70, the municipality of Praia, in the island of Santiago, and the Cape Verdean NGO CITI – HABITAT, co-financed by the EEC, is another major intervention (Allegretti et al. 2021). In 2008, it started the ‘Social Re-housing Program of the Municipality of Sal’ – ‘So.Pro.Sal’ – financed 75% by the European Commission, in which the Africa Movement 70 coordinates three local partners, the Municipality of Sal, the Chã de Matias Association and the NGO Morabi.
With the objective of contributing to the reduction of the housing deficit in Cape Verde, the solidarity program ‘Operação Esperança’ was created and implemented in June 2005, under the responsibility of the then Cape Verdean Solidarity Institute and later Cape Verdean Foundation of Solidarity (FCS). Having as a guideline the recovery of degraded housing and, in exceptional cases, the construction from scratch, this government program rehabilitated and built a total of more than 4000 houses for Cape Verdean families, through partnerships that FCS established with community associations and the incentive of the contribution from the society as a whole and from the beneficiaries themselves (labour, materials, and so on).
NGOs have been promoting the construction of social housing and the improvement of constructions, in addition to actions promoted by the government and the Municipal Councils, mainly in municipalities with major housing problems, such as Espargos, Praia and Mindelo.
Faced with the challenge of responding to the housing deficit (3000 dwellings) and inherent constraints, in 2004, the Municipality of Sal developed a land policy, aiming to respond to the principles of democracy, citizenship, justice and social equity, allowing the citizen, regardless of their economic condition, to have access to decent housing of their own. A process of valuing the urban land started through the correct ordering of its infrastructure, establishing the criteria for access to the plots of land, whether by direct purchase, monthly instalments or even leases.
In 2006, the Municipal Housing Promotion Company ‘SalHabit’ was created, responsible for promoting the construction of low-cost housing for the most vulnerable population, in the form of self-construction and housing construction at controlled costs. Parallel to the ‘SalHabit’ initiatives, the City Council created a support program for self-construction to respond to families (mainly headed by women) who own plots of land, but with major financial restrictions. The IFHneighbourhood was built in the late 1990s by the IFH, with the objective of relocating the residents of the spontaneous neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the town of Espargos, especially the socially more vulnerable population, namely the elderly and people with disabilities (UN 2016).
In 2011, the Praia City Council created the Regularization of Settlements and Illegal Constructions Program (PRACIMP), which aimed to regularize ownership, as well as imposing conditions on constructions and their approval. It also implemented the ‘Pilot Project for the Rehabilitation of Degraded Housing in Praia’ (2010–2011), having managed to rehabilitate some houses, but it was cancelled due to lack of funding.
Within the scope of the projects and programs, several buildings and public facilities were recovered, houses were built for the most vulnerable families, interior roads in the neighbourhoods, as well as connecting roads. The two main cities – Praia and Mindelo – have gained an urban road network that ensured minimal accessibility to peripheral neighbourhoods. With the economic situation and the worsening of the financial crisis between 2010 and 2011, new groups of tin houses emerged, making the management and territorial intervention difficult, which called into question the effectiveness of the social housing policy of the municipalities (UN 2016).
9.3.3.2 Central Housing Programs – 1990–2010
According to institutional data, since its creation, the intervention of the IFH has contemplated the construction of three classes of housing: economic, at controlled costs, and social, in addition to rehabilitating social housing in several municipalities across the country. The IFH built, until 2000, a total of 1338 properties spread over the nine islands and included in the ‘Social Housing’ Program (467 dwellings), the ‘Economic Housing’ Program (609 dwellings) and the ‘Controlled Cost Housing Program’ (262 dwellings), as shown in the Tables 9.10, 9.11 and 9.12.
In the same framework, the IFH also rehabilitated 569 homes through the Program for the improvement of homes for the needy rural population, started in 1998, on the islands of Santiago, São Nicolau and Santo Antão (Table 9.13).
The Housing Development Institute, in 1999, changed from a public Institute to a public limited company, with the designation of ‘Imobiliária Fundiária e Habitat’. This transformation was reflected in its mode of operation: It began to act according to a strong market logic, having as its object the real estate development, building of real estate, the purchase and sale of real estate, as well as the urbanization and infrastructure of land and the buying and selling of building plots.
The IFH launched housing programs, calling them social housing for the most disadvantaged social classes; however, the prices were not affordable for the unsolvable citizens. The situation meant that the IFH gradually stopped intervening in the promotion of social housing and in the rental housing market. The IFH began to respond, above all, to a stratum of the medium/high-income population, becoming more inclined to act based on market mechanisms than to attend to concerns of justice and social equity.
Within the scope of the IV PND – National Development Plan (1997–2001), one of the stated objectives was the promotion of human and social development, which included the subprograms ‘housing promotion’, in addition to ‘promotion provisions’ and ‘building improvement’. The projects intended to support this human and social development included: the ‘Conception of Economic Housing Projects Competition’; the ‘Infrastructure of New Housing Areas’; the ‘Manpower Training’; the ‘Development of Manuals’; the ‘Technical Assistance to Families’; the preparation of the ‘Land Law and Expropriation Code’; and the ‘Promotion of Research and Dissemination of New Construction Technologies’, in addition to the creation of a credit line for social housing, legislation for urban leases, incentives for operators in the area of real estate, and the involvement of financial institutions and IFH in housing development (MIT 1997).
Thus, the central mission of IFH would be to capitalize on all its experience and on its human, financial and material resources to guarantee to the greatest possible number of families the right to adequate housing and, consequently, the quality of life they were entitled to as citizens of Cape Verde. The company’s new strategy clearly defines the promotion of housing for Cape Verdean families as its central axis of action, as a way of contributing to the reduction of the country’s high housing deficit, not neglecting, however, the possibility of investing in other market niches of more substantial return, to allow the financing of housing at more affordable prices for the less solvent classes.
Over time, IFH produced housing of high quality, having introduced, in Cape Verde, closed condominiums, the exterior arrangements of the entire public space surrounding the housing developments, including roads, sidewalks and other social facilities, in addition to offering commercial spaces, which gave a better structure and another dynamic to the neighbourhoods where they are located. In addition to the four major areas of intervention initially listed, IFH also invests in the infrastructure of the deployment areas from a social perspective. Consequently, another challenge for IFH has been to be able to contribute to a better quality of the urban spaces, in the country’s urban and secondary centres, to guarantee urban areas with an organized, structured and planned growth.
Reducing housing prices that allow a greater number of families access to their own homes remains a fundamental concern of IFH, given the high prices in the market, which leave a large fringe of the population out of the system. To achieve this goal, IFH advocated investing heavily in the investigation, application and dissemination of new technologies and construction materials, which lead to substantial price reductions and at the same time contributed to the preservation of the country’s fragile environmental balance.
The planning and management of the housing sector were confronted with new challenges after 2009 due to the implementation of important new institutional frameworks, such as the National Social Housing System (SNHIS), the National Strategic Plan for Housing 2011–2021 (PENH), the Housing Security Fund (FSH) and, especially, the large investment in the ‘Casa para Todos’ program (PCPT).
The Brazilian Cooperation supported Cape Verde in establishing the regulatory and institutional conditions necessary to increase the access of families, particularly those with lower incomes, to the formal housing market.
In 2010, the Ministry of Housing, Environment and Spatial Planning (formerly Ministry of Decentralization, Housing and Spatial Planning – MDHOT) oversaw the housing area, through the General Directorate of Spatial Planning and Urban Development (DGOTDU). The ‘Unit for the Coordination of the National Housing Policy’ (UCPNH) became the mission structure responsible for studying and proposing legal and regulatory measures in the areas of housing and urban rehabilitation with the objective of implementing a national housing program (Art.° 24°, DL n° 1/2010).
Created by Decree-Law No. 27/2010, the SNHIS is a platform for articulation and consultation of public, associative and private agents for the coordination of land, financial and institutional resources, as well as for the design and implementation of housing programs and projects, with the aim of maximizing and rationalizing existing resources to respond to the demands for social housing in Cape Verde, prioritizing families from lower-income social classes in the access to housing, both in the urban and in the rural areas.
The state participates in the SNHIS with the government department responsible for the areas of housing, social solidarity, finance, infrastructure and transport. Besides these entities, the IFH, the municipalities and NGOs operating in the housing sector, together with the Social Housing Fund, also took part in the SNHIS, as well as the Land Registry and the Guarantee Fund, with the main objective of implementing housing investment policies and programs, as well as to provide support and incentives for the acquisition and rehabilitation of housing for all.
Alongside the participation of the state, and other actors from the private sector and civil society, the SNHIS, through the FHIS, was initially financed by a credit line of 200 million Euros, contracted with the Republic of Portugal, with expectations of an initial capital increase of an additional 100 million Euros per year (UN 2019a).
As a follow-up to the SNHIS, a National (Strategic) Housing Plan (P(E)NH) was developed, designed to assess the country’s housing constraints and strategies to overcome housing problems. The National (Strategic) Plan for Housing 2011–2021, launched by the government as part of its Major Options of the PND, was developed by MAHOT and presented in 2011. Cape Verde already had legal provisions prepared by the same Ministry to frame the PNH and support social housing policy and sector activities (Table 9.14).
According to the SNHIS, social interest housing (HIS) is considered a ‘building intended for the habitual and permanent residence of a low-income household and that meets the conditions, especially in terms of price, quality and gross building area’ (Art.° 3°, DL 27/2010). This concept has been used by institutions and agencies, namely by the Brazilian cooperation with Cape Verde. It proposes the creation of housing solutions, aimed at the low-income population, to be subsidized or paid for by the state or other civil society bodies. Associated with this concept are the concepts of: (a) low-cost housing (low-cost housing or HBC), which means cheap housing, built at controlled costs and intended for a middle-income population with some solvency power; (b) social housing for low-income population (housing for low-income people), which designates cheap housing, normally subsidized or funded by the state or other civil society organization and whose target audience is the most disadvantaged population, without solvency (PNH, p.102).
The resolution of the housing problem requires a housing policy that promotes the construction of habitat, the creation of neighbourhood and community and the development of social relations. This responsibility is thus shared with the municipalities, most of which now have a department dedicated to land and housing issues, and to the real estate sector and families.
The SNHIS comprises the set of actions, programs and projects conceived within the scope of the PNH and seeks to promote the availability of social housing, mainly for lower-income social segments, through infrastructure, rehabilitation, construction, leasing and acquisition.
The PNH is based on four main lines of action: Territorial planning and land policy, resources and sources of financing, institutional framework and the civil construction production chain. It has three programmatic lines and seven programs. The programmatic lines and housing programs of the PNH were defined in accordance with the strategy outlined to balance the accumulated needs, qualitative and quantitative, and the future demand for new units and aim to address the problems identified in the diagnosis of the housing and territorial situation of Cape Verde.
To reach the goal of establishing a territorial planning system focused on people and on creating spaces for the socialization of citizens and for fulfilling the constitutional objective of guaranteeing decent housing for all Cape Verdeans, strategically, the NHP incorporated the Plan of Action ‘House for All’ program (2011–2021), consisting of five programs, framed in the programmatic line – ‘Production and acquisition of housing units’ (Table 9.15).
The ‘House for All’ program (‘Casa Para Todos’ – CPT) was launched by the government with the aim of ‘instituting a continuous and sustained dynamic of housing production aimed at combating the housing deficit in Cape Verde’ (UN 2019a, p.74), bringing together a series of strategic actions whose goals and anticipated investments are identified in Table 9.16.
Through the Regulatory Decree no. 9/2010, the SNHIS regulated the parameters and conditions for access to the construction, acquisition and rehabilitation of housing, namely: the minimum quality of housing units (HUs) (Art. 5°) of HIS; the standard cost, areas and maximum prices of the HUs (Article 6); and the inclusion of public community facilities and social integration plans in the projects (Article 16). In the same law, the conditions of access are defined, namely, by the definition of beneficiary classes (Article 19) and the creation of the Single Registry (Article 21) which constitutes the sole instrument for the registration and selection of HIS beneficiaries.Footnote 10
According to the PNH, the purpose of the UHs is for the residential use of families enrolled in the CUBHIS, members of the defined beneficiary classes (A, B and C). In design and construction, this stratification is replicated, with the UHs being divided equally into three classes (A, B and C). Class A UHs prioritize social leasing and resolvable leasing, and class B and C UHs, commercialization for their own homes.
As shown in Table 9.17,Footnote 11 the UHs are distributed according to defined classes and typology, minimum and maximum areas by typology, requirements of sanitary facilities and differentiation of constructive finishes. The SNHIS also establishes that the projects must be built in a system of vertical housing blocks, with a maximum of four floors and T1Footnote 12 typologies in residual quantity and having HUs adaptable to the use by people with reduced mobility, on the ground floors, according to the demand projection.
9.3.3.3 House for All (2011–2021)
In line with the PNH 2011–2021, the CPT includes three components that were implemented, entitled Habitar CV, Prohabitar and Reabilitar. Of the strategic actions established in the CPT, Habitar CV, whose goal would be the production of HUs in urban areas, was the housing program with the greatest investment and relevance. Habitar CV received initial funding from the Government of Portugal of 200 million Euros (US$235 million), with a counterpart of 10% of this amount from the Government of Cape Verde. The implementation of the CPT was scheduled to have two stages, and the first stage of Habitar CV (2011–2015), with an estimated 9882 HUs, was made possible with the support of the Government of Portugal, by financing the construction of HIS, in “key-in-hand” design-construction regime, by 19 Cape Verdean and 22 Portuguese companies in consortium.
Habitar CV had as its target population families enrolled in CUBHIS, framed in the Classes A, B and C, whose selection was carried out through a screening process, a verification through the visit of social technicians and formalization of contracts through the results of the social report and issuance of a final list of beneficiaries. The main criteria were household income and composition (score for single-parent families; families with disabled members; families with elderly members; families with children under the age of 12 who attend school; and young couples). For Class A, the score was the preponderant selection criterion, while for Classes B and C, a weighting was made between household income and score. According to official data from the IFH, by the end of 2015, CUBHIS had 29,599 families registered, 16,931 on the island of Santiago (57.2%) and 14,366 from the municipality of Praia.
Initially, the PNH established that Habitar CV had as its first goal (2011–2015) the delivery of 9882 housing units (HU), a value that was later adjusted to 8500 housing units, distributed throughout the country in the form of high-density condominiums, from three to five floors, equivalent to 20% of the quantitative housing deficit. However, the program’s delivery target was reduced to 6010 HU due to the need to build more equipment and infrastructure, residual acquisitions of some land in places where neither the state nor the municipality had land available. According to the data, the cut in the number of Class A HU, which should be the main beneficiaries of the program, is justified by the fact that financial institutions are reluctant to provide mortgages to low-income beneficiaries who work in the informal sector. Of the total contracted units, 2215 housing units were allocated to class A households, 2399 class B housing units and 1396 class C housing units (UN 2019a).
Regarding payment methods, for Class A, obtaining a home is dependent on the proof of ability to pay, to lease or to purchase; in the event of a change in the financial situation, the value of the rent would be altered in proportion to the income. For Classes B and C, the purchase could be made in cash, via bank loan, with its own resources, or the instalment made directly at the IFH, through the purchase and sale contract with reservation of title (UN 2019a).
In the second half of 2018, with the objective of improving and decentralizing the management of the program, the Class A properties (2215) were transferred to the state and are under the management of the Municipal Councils. All municipalities received the CUBHIS registration system used by the IFH, while it held the process, having been the basis of the Single Social Register (CSU) created by the Municipalities that served to launch contests for the selection of housing beneficiaries. The management of Class B and C properties continues to be carried out by IFH SA, which continues to promote the sale of Class B and C HUs, which, apparently, has been hampered by problems in granting credit, and by the characteristics of the housing, in terms of quality and size, as well as because the projects bring together HUs of different classes (UN 2019a).
‘Rehabilitar’, within the framework of the CPT programme, constituted an integrated set of policy measures, with a dynamic of intervention in the habitat and housing space aimed at combating the national qualitative housing deficit. Its purpose was to carry out around 16,000 rehabilitation interventions, to reduce by around 24%, the qualitative deficit in all the islands of Cape Verde, both in urban and rural areas, through an integrated approach in which the family and the habitat were the focus.
The program aimed to renew urban and rural nuclei, assisting, whenever necessary, families that belonged to classes A and B of the SNHIS. Its priority for rehabilitation was the urban areas subject to consolidation, if they incorporated the following components: (a) Identification of structuring projects that ensure the sustainability of the actions and the durability of the results; (b) urban requalification; (c) rehabilitation of Houses; and (d) adoption of methodologies for the active participation of the beneficiary population. In 2014, 125 houses were rehabilitated, spread over four islands, with the families participating with labour in the execution of the actions, for which they were duly remunerated (UN 2019a).
Regarding the Prohabitar program, the target set out in the PNH (2011–2020) was 926 housing units, having been adjusted for the construction of 1050 houses in rural environments (UN 2019a, p.74) (Table 9.18).
9.3.3.4 Requalification, Rehabilitation and Accessibility (2017–2020)
As part of the investment in housing rehabilitation, the work being carried out at different levels of the central government is considered positive, given that the process with which families and small contractors participate shows mostly satisfactory results. However, noting the permanence, widespread across all islands, of the growing fragilities of the slums, with the proliferation of barracks, informal settlements and housing without toilets and with roofs at risk of collapse, the Government considered the expansion from this type of initiative to new programs and additional measures to ensure an adequate technical level in interventions, to meet the requests of many families (UN 2019a).
9.3.3.5 PSUP III and PNMAI (2017–2020)
It should be noted that the ‘Participatory Program for the Improvement of Informal Settlements’ (PSUP), a cooperation program of UN-Habitat with Cape Verde, financed by the European Union and the Government of Cape Verde, has provided important support in the process of implementing the Program of the United Nations for Development (UNDP) and preparation of diagnostic and strategic documents, such as the ‘National Urban Profile’ (2013) and the urban profiles of the country’s municipalities. In 2017, as part of the PSUP, the ‘National Program’ was prepared for the ‘Improvement of Informal Settlements’ (PNMAI), which defines an action plan to be followed for the improvement of pilot neighbourhoods in Praia, Mindelo, Sal-Rei and Espargos. Phase III of the PSUP outlines participatory strategies for the improvement of informal settlements in cities, with a view to financing and local implementation of pilot community projects. PSUP III has the technical support of a technical team that includes around 25 institutions from the public sector and NGOs.
The Government of Cape Verde established a co-financing mechanism for the PNMAI for a period of four years (2017–2021), having created the conditions to receive the large-scale ‘Scalling Up’ investment phase of the PSUP from 2019 onwards. In the PSUP, the cities chosen were Praia, Mindelo, Sal Rei and Espargos, while the other cities in the country are benefiting from the government’s program called ‘Program for Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation and Accessibility – PRRA’ (UN 2019a).
9.3.3.6 PRRA (2017–2020)
The aim of the “Rehabilitation and Accessibility Program – PRRA”, in 2017, was to invest in the rehabilitation of housing in advanced conditions of precariousness, in the rehabilitation of neighbourhoods and improvement of accessibility in 10 municipalities. In 2018, the PRRA assumed a structure of eight axes of intervention, reinforcing the investment spread over 22 municipalities. The program devolves power to the municipalities, which take responsibility for identifying the necessary interventions and requesting funding from the central government, as well as for carrying out the technical management of the projects, with the support of the PRRA’s central team, made up of technicians from the central government (UN 2019a) (Table 9.19).
At the end of 2018, the PRRA had already accounted for the rehabilitation of 464 homes, with the goal by 2020 being the rehabilitation of 6103 homes for families in need. For 2019, it was intended to achieve about 50% of the established PRRA goals (3383), translated in the actions presented in Table 9.20. Under the PRRA, intervention axis II, a total of 1452 homes were rehabilitated,Footnote 13 with 46 local contractors benefiting throughout the country.
Regarding housing, we can see that Cape Verde has been taking firm steps, leading to the development, in partnership with INE and UN-HABITAT, of relevant documents such as the ‘Profile of the Housing Sector – PSH’ and the ‘Charter of Housing Policy’, which allowed the definition of the strategy for the sector with objectives and goals to be pursued, which constituted the basis for the construction of the National Housing Plan.
In addition, Cape Verde has a legal framework that includes a few more relevant diplomas for the housing sector, which are presented in Table 9.21.
9.3.3.7 National Housing Policy
The Ministry of Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Housing (MIOTH), assisted by UN-Habitat Cape Verde, prepared the document ‘National Housing Policy’ (PNH), published in December 2019.
Also in 2019, a diagnostic study was carried out, PSH – Profile of the Housing Sector, which promoted the preparation of the National Housing Policy (PNH). This profile identified priority actions implemented to improve the habitability conditions of Cape Verdeans, in line with the Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development of Cape Verde (PEDS) and the Sustainable Development Objectives (Agenda 2030), which includes the PRRA.
That National Housing Policy (Resolution No. 25/2020) constitutes a tool that defines premises, principles, guidelines and instruments for the development of the housing sector, impacting the transformation of human settlements in Cape Verde, poverty reduction and widespread and continuous improvement of living conditions in the country. The main objective is to provide a framework for the housing segment, promoting the inclusive, resilient, efficient and sustainable functioning of the housing sector.
The NHP is based on a new strategic approach that determines the continuation of interventions aimed at consolidating housing production that responds to the needs of all layers of the population, and especially the most vulnerable, in the 10 priority areas presented in Table 9.22.
According to the PNH, the implementation process of this policy must have, as its only implementation instruments, the National Housing Plan (PLANAH), Municipal Housing Plans (PLAMUH) in all municipalities and a Housing Information System (SIH), in addition to the essential harmonization of the entire legal and regulatory framework (UN 2019b).
The National Housing Plan (PLANAH) will be the main instrument for implementing the PNH, which will support the integration of interventions at the central and local administration levels. PLANAH should define the programmatic lines and housing programs in accordance with the political instructions and strategies outlined in the NHP. The local instruments for implementing the NHP are the Municipal Housing Plans (PLAMUH), whose objective is to promote the planning of actions in the housing sector to guarantee access to decent housing (social interest housing) in the respective municipality.
The Housing Information System (SIH) is a database including records with geo-referenced information identifiers of housing conditions throughout the national territory, at the level of families.
The Monitoring and Evaluation System (SMA) is created for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Policy. It is considered, therefore, that the monitoring, evaluation and periodic review are fundamental factors for the assessment of the performance of the policy, and justification for its review, whenever necessary, thus confirming the progress of the fulfilment of the objective that everyone carries out.
9.4 ‘Casa Para Todos’ Program (‘House for All Program’): The Impact of Habitar CV
The ‘Casa para Todos’ program, here referred to as ‘Habitar CV’, aimed to carry out works and services that resulted in new housing units, in urban areas, inserted in legally defined parcels of an area, endowed with minimum standards of habitability, health and safety. This program included several actions comprising three axes: (i) production of housing units through conventional processes at reduced costs; (ii) planning and infrastructure of the areas of new housing developments; and (iii) construction of collective equipment (Table 9.23).
A total of 6010 units were designed and distributed over 50 projects, on 8 islands and 19 municipalities. Some of the contracting processes involved the allocation of funds greater than those foreseen for infrastructure works, which is why the construction of only 5620 rooms, spread over 49 housing projects, was carried out. Based on data provided by the management entity – Imobiliária, Fundiária e Habitat, SA (IFH) – it was found that between 2011 and 2015, 2098 units were completed, distributed over 25 projects on 7 islands, with the other contracts having been completed by end of 2017. Of the housing units implemented, 2178 were destined for class A households, 2519 for class B and 923 for class C, as shown in Table 9.24.
According to data provided by IFH, ‘Habitar CV’ registered, at the national level, 29,606 inscriptions in CUBHIS, between 2010 and 2019. In Praia, around 48.5% of applications were registered (14,368). Of the remaining municipalities, the application rate was 4.3% in Boa Vista, 12.1% in Sal, 4.5% in Santa Cruz and 18.5% São Vicente .
The CUBHIS statistics provides an idea of the families who applied for ‘Habitar CV’ and were granted a property or who are awaiting a possible allocation. Families enrolled in the rogram are mostly composed of 3 members: in total (27.26%); those registered in the municipality of Praia (28.19%); and those registered in the remaining municipalities (26.38%). Families registered with CUBHIS, in Praia (n:14,368) corresponded to 43,392 persons, and in total of the remaining municipalities (n:15,238) corresponded to 42,081 persons.
At the start of ‘Habitar CV’, Class A houses were created for around 83.9% of those registered (24,837), 13.1% (3870) for Class B and only 3.0% (899) were for Class C. Table 9.25 shows the distribution by island and municipality of the number of dwellings, the number of subscribers and the corresponding response rate of the Program. It results show that between 2011 and 2020, the concession of new housing was made possible to approximately 19% of the candidates registered in the CUBHIS. However, the analyses of the demand for housing by class, at the national level, show a response rate of 8.8% for Class A, 65.1% for Class B and more than 102.7% for Class C. In São Vicente, the disparity is significant: The built HUs respond to only 4.3% of the registered families of Class A, contrary to the Class C HUs, which present a low demand compared to the larger offer (Figs. 9.17, 9.18, 9.19, 9.20, 9.21 and 9.22).
House for All – Sao Miguel 01. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2017)
House for All – Santa Cruz 01. (Source: Ana Marta Clemente 2013)
House for All – Santa Catarina 01. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2017)
House for All – Tarrafal 01. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2017)
House for All – Praia 02. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2017)
House for All – Praia 03. (Source: Ana Marta Clemente 2013)
The response rate from ‘Habitar CV’ is considerable. In certain municipalities, supply (number of homes built) exceeded demand (number of subscribers). With a rate of around 118.2% in the municipality of São Salvador Mundo, and considering that the number of homes built was higher than the number of people enrolled in CUBHIS, it can perhaps be concluded that the ‘Habitar CV’ program may have had an extremely strong impact.
The municipalities of Ribeira Grande de Santiago and São Domingos registered some applications in CUBHIS; however, no housing development was built in these municipalities, so both have a zero-response rate.
From the analysis of the response rate by class, there is a considerable representation of Class C. In general terms, this class registers a response rate above 100%, with its highest and most extreme representations being registered in the municipalities of Mosteiros (1200.0%), Boavista (454.5%), Ribeira Grande (418.2%), São Vicente (323.9%), Sal (186.5%) and Santa Cruz (180, 0%). In this class, the least favoured, a rate of less than 50% in CUBHIS has been registered in the municipality of Praia (41.1%).
Class B presents, at the national level, a response rate just above 50% (65.1%). However, also in this class there was an offer that is extremely superior to the demand. This is the case of the municipalities of Santa Catarina (1500.0%), Ribeira Brava (666.7%), Maio (333.3%), São Salvador Mundo (257.1%), Santa Cruz (245 .0%), São Lourenço Órgãos (228.6%), Boavista (203.2%), São Miguel (200.0%), Tarrafal de São Nicolau (200.0%) and São Filipe (103.4%). The municipalities of Tarrafal (50.0%) and Praia (42.1%) have response rates equal to or less than 50%, so it can be considered that at the intersection between the number of built dwellings and the number of entries in the CUBHIS, these are the municipalities where Habitar CV had the least impact.
Class A presents a surplus in the response rate only in the municipality of São Salvador Mundo (101.7%). Of the other municipalities in the Cape Verde archipelago, none of them has a rate above 31%. In this class, there was an offer that was extremely inferior to the demand. This is the case of the municipalities of São Vicente (4.3%); Praia (6.3%); Santa Cruz (8.2%); Ribeira Grande (9.4%); Tarrafal, Paul, Porto Novo and São Filipe with about 10%; Sal (11.1%); Boavista (27.9%) and São Lourenço dos Órgãos (30.5%).
The municipalities of Praia, Sal and São Vicente are the ones that register the largest number of built dwellings and, at the same time, the largest number of subscribers to CUBHIS. However, Habitar CV’s response rates are among the lowest, as the demands largely surpassed the supply. The municipality of Praia, which registered the highest number of applications (48.5%), also registers the highest number of assignments (34.5%). However, the attribution rate compared to the number of applications does not exceed 6.3%. São Vicente was the second municipality to receive more applications (16.0%), but the response rate was only 16.4%. São Salvador do Mundo was the municipality with the highest response rate (118.2%), followed by Boavista (60.7%), Santa Catarina do Fogo (52.2%), Maio (38.3% ), São Miguel (35.2%) and São Filipe (31.5%). The remaining councils register response rates of less than 30%.
In the case of the municipalities of Ribeira Grande de Santiago and São Domingos, which had the lowest number of applications, no house was built. Boavista, on the other hand, presents itself as the municipality most favoured by the program. With an index of applications that places it in 5th position in this ranking and a considerable number of built dwellings, this municipality presents a relatively favourable response rate (60.7%).
The data from CUBHIS referring to families with housing allocation, allow us to understand the impact of ‘Habitar CV’ on the improvement of housing conditions.
Crossing the application rate with the attribution rate by housing occupancy regime, it appears that the candidates who rented a house are the ones with a more significant attribution rate (68.5%). The rate calculated based on the number of attributions by the number of applications is also the highest (2.8%). Second, in terms of benefits arising from participation in this program, there are participants who did not have a home, with a rate of around 2.4%, and participants living in illegal houses (2.1%).
With an attribution rate in the order of 3.2%, the candidates who lived in houses without connection to a wastewater evacuation system were the ones who most benefited from this program. In this category, 6636 (22.5%) applications were registered, and of these, 25.4% were housing allocated under this programme.
The use of septic tanks for the evacuation of dirty water is the largest representation in the total number of applications (11,601; 39.3%) and in the attributions (35.6%) within the scope of Habitar CV. However, the highest response rate (4.4%) is registered in evacuations dumped directly into the river or into the sea (applications: 596; 2.0% / assignments: 3.1%). So, in this parameter of the analysis, the applicants were the ones who most benefited from the program (Figs. 9.23, 9.24, 9.25, 9.26, 9.27 and 9.28).
House for All –Praia 05. (Source: Ana Marta Clemente 2016)
House for All – Praia 1.1. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2019)
House for All – Praia 1.2. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2011)
House for All – Praia 1.2. (Source: Ana Mafalda Rodrigues 2011)
House for All – Sal 03 Espargos. (Source: Fernando Santos 2014)
House for All – Sal 04 Santa Maria. (Source: Fernando Santos_2020)
It appears that the candidates who did not use electricity as their main source of energy (2948; 10.0%) were the ones who most benefited from this program (11.7%), which corresponds to a response rate of 3.3%. It was the candidates who used candles and access to irregular light who benefited the most from this program. In the case of irregular lighting, 389 applications (1.3%) and 14 assignments (1.7%) were registered, which shows a response rate of around 3.6%. The use of candles for lighting in the home was mentioned by 2596 applicants (8.8%), and of these, 10.4% received properties allocated under this programme, evidenced by a response rate of around 3.4%.
Candidates who lived in an accommodation without connection to the public water distribution network benefited from this program, representing 35% of the assignments and a response rate of 2.84%. Candidates who depended on the fountain as their main source of watersupply (22.9%) were the main beneficiaries of this program (24.2%), showing a response rate of 3%, closely followed by the candidates who depended on it (application: 0.7%; attribution: 0.7%) and those who lived in properties connected to a public distribution network inside the house (application: 58.5%; attribution: 60.1 %), showing a response rate of 2.9%.
Habitar CV is an instrument of public housing policies but also of urban policy, in that it seeks to mitigate the social vulnerability of populations regarding urban insertion. The ‘Casa para Todos’ program does not contemplate only the construction of houses. Decree-Law No. 5/2016 stipulates in its articles 15 and 16 the inclusion of public community facilities and social integration plans in the housing projects. The inclusion of social equipment in the housing projects is mandatory whenever more than 50 homes of social interest are produced. According to article 15 of Decree-Regulatory No. 9/2010, the equipment provided must be for: health; education and citizenship; urban mobility and security; leisure sport and community living; job and income generation; assistance to children, the elderly, the physically handicapped or those with special needs (Figs. 9.29, 9.30, 9.31, 9.32, 9.33 and 9.34).
House for All – Praia 06. (Source: Fernando Santos 2016)
House for All – Praia 8.1. (Source: João Paulo Madeira 2021)
House for All – Praia 8.2. (Source: João Paulo Madeira 2021)
House for All – Praia 10. (Source: João Paulo Madeira 2021)
House for All – Praia 04. (Source: Ana Marta Clemente 2016)
House for All – Praia 07. (Source: João Paulo Madeira 2021)
In this context, social equipment associated with the various projects were planned and built, as shown in Table 9.26. Investments were considered in the internal infrastructure of the areas where the projects are located, resulting from the need for construction in areas of expansion of the cities, new areas without the basic urban infrastructure, that contributed to the consolidation of cities through the creation of new centralities.
To sum up, the ‘Habitar CV’ program has been, in the period under analysis in this chapter, an instrument that embodies not only the Right to Housing, although with an impact below expectations, but also the Right to the City in Cape Verde. And in that sense, it constituted an important driver in the changes that took place in recent years in the local and urban governance system in Cape Verde, as is shown and reiterated in the other chapters of the book that deal with other facets of the local governance system in the country.
9.5 Conclusion
Over the last 45 years, the development of the housing policies in Cape Verde has been dependent on the resources available, both financial and technical, necessary for the implementation of housing projects and the associated social actions. The housing policies implemented in this period had an impact on the mitigation of social vulnerability that is below expectations, and due to that, the number of families living in a situation of serious housing shortage is still high.
Population growth, migration to urban areas, lack of land tenure and insufficient financial resources resulted in an increase in inadequate housing as this chapter shows. This situation, confronted with the international recognition of the Right to the City and the Right to Adequate Housing, led the state in Cape Verde to assume as its duty the promotion of public housing and to develop urban policies to increase access to housing and to enhance social inclusion, especially for the most disadvantaged sections of the population, drawing on the contribution of other actors, such as civil society, the scientific community, multilateral agencies, financial institutions and construction companies, among others, as we have argued before (Rodrigues 2014).
The recent National Housing Policy defines premises, principles, guidelines and instruments for the development of the housing sector, with an impact on the transformation of human settlements in Cape Verde, on the reduction of poverty and on a generalized and continuous improvement of living conditions in the country. In its new strategic approach, which has as its main objective the inclusive, resilient, efficient and sustainable functioning of the housing sector, it is important to reinforce the importance of the reforms advocated for the inclusive approach, the improvement of housing conditions and the urbanization of informal settlements.
In pursuing the interventions defined by the PNH, aimed at consolidating housing production as a means of responding to the needs of the population, especially the most vulnerable, it is essential to consider: the involvement of public, private and civil society actors in the housing sector; the robust policy and regulatory framework for the housing sector; the diversified and adequate offer of the housing stock; the recognition of the housing deficit, need and demand; integration of policies in the domains of urban planning and housing; the management of land and land resources for housing; the provision of infrastructure and services alongside housing; and, to make the actions feasible, the creation of a robust and structured housing financing system.
Currently, the implementation process of this policy has as its only implementation instruments the National Housing Plan (PLANAH), Municipal Housing Plans (PLAMUH) in all municipalities and a Housing Information System (SIH), as well as the harmonization and the structuring of the legal and regulatory framework. PLANAH is appointed as the main implementation instrument, integrating interventions at central and local administration levels, with programmatic lines and housing programs defined in accordance with the political instructions and strategies outlined in the NHP.
In Cape Verde, the housing policies implemented are still insufficient to respond to the current needs, which are reflected in an approximate housing deficit of 8.7% of the families, as referred before. Although the determination of the state to promote affordable housing is considered important, the social role of the state in responding to the housing problem that affects the population of the poorest and most vulnerable social classes must be accompanied by other prosperity-promoting social policies, as the case of Cape Verde shows.
The main challenges are the control of non-licensed or illegal and precarious constructions. This requires the reinforcement of the technical and financial resources of the municipalities that primarily support the actions of rehabilitation/requalification, demolition, and relocation. This may be complemented by the construction of permanent housing solutions and temporary accommodation, as a response to the needs of families in situations of severe housing shortages.
In Cape Verde, it is essential to meet the needs of people and families in situations of precariousness, overcrowding, unhealthy conditions, insecurity or inadequacy and whose financial situation does not allow them to bear the cost of access to adequate housing.
It is important that housing policies respond to serious housing shortages, associated with precarious housing situations that put people’s safety at risk (domestic violence, structural insecurity, and so on), people’s health (housing without minimum living conditions, people in homeless or at-risk situations) and situations of overcrowding or inadequacy (insufficient and incompatible housing for the composition of the household).
In addition to providing more social housing, it is important to consider the provision of housing as a response to urgent and temporary situations caused by various events, which require immediate and adjusted responses, as is the case of people in precarious situations and social vulnerability, covering immigrants who provide temporary work and have difficulty in accessing housing with a minimum of dignity.
It is understood that the resolution of the serious housing problem in Cape Verde may involve actions of: (a) reinforcement of the public housing stock, integrating construction and rehabilitation operations of vacant buildings, to provide more housing offer of social interest (housing permanent or urgent and temporary accommodation); (b) rehabilitation of housing integrated in degraded consolidated urban centres; and (c) rehabilitation of housing, private and public housing stock of social interest, leading to providing them with the minimum conditions of habitability.
In the creation of decent housing as a right and vector of social inclusion, it is important to integrate the sociological and anthropological vision in the design of adequate housing models for the target groups, which may include alternative solutions such as evolutionary single-family or multi-family housing and the infra-structured lots in special areas of social interest, defined in municipal housing and land use plans, as well as self-construction programs developed with technical assistance.
As the PNH points out, urban plans are also instruments for implementing the housing policy, promoting the protection and fulfilment of the Right to the City, by giving powers to the local government to apply instruments that can fulfil the social function of urban property. The recognition and institutionalization of the Right to the City necessarily imply the definition of objective parameters for the location, integration in the surroundings and urban design of HIS projects. The urban insertion of these enterprises and rehabilitated centres must guarantee public spaces that promote sociability, comfortable pedestrian circulation and full access to public transport and equipment, commerce, services and other activities essential to urban life.
The implementation of integrated and cohesive policies, in the domain of housing and land use planning, is the way to combat inequalities and social exclusion and guarantee the Right to Housing and the Right to the City. This goal ought to be central in all reforms to be undertaken in the current local and urban governance system in Cape Verde, namely in central–local relations, by enhancing the organizational, functional and financial autonomy of municipalities in Cape Verde, a conclusion that concurs with the main findings and argument of the book, as expressed in all chapters that deal explicitly with the system of the local government and with the spatial planning system in the country in the post-colonial period.
Notes
- 1.
This chapter is part of the research carried out in the scope of the author’s doctoral thesis, entitled ‘Models of housing and social production in a postcolonial context: the case of the “Casa para Todos” (“House for All”) Program in Cape Verde’, being developed at the Centre for Social Studies, Interdisciplinary Research Institute of the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
- 2.
In this chapter, the notion of ‘social interest housing’, referred in the Cape Verdean housing legislation, is taken as synonymous with ‘social housing’.
- 3.
The funcus.
- 4.
Inquérito às Despesas e Receitas Familiares.
- 5.
Questionário Unificado de Indicadores Básicos do Bem-Estar.
- 6.
Work processes were exhaustively consulted at the Overseas Historical Archive in Lisbon, the majority of the Colonial/Ultramar Urbanization Office and the Department of Urban Planning and Housing of the General Directorate of Public Works and Communications of the Ministry of Overseas. Processes were also consulted in the Archives of the Diplomatic Historical Archive, in Lisbon.
- 7.
Law No. 1/75, July 5th.
- 8.
‘Bairro de lata’ is the name commonly given to settlements where the houses are built with non-conventional materials, namely drums or wood, among others (Profile of the Housing Sector 2018).
- 9.
The Social Housing Fund (FSH), initially fed by FENU, was conceived to enable defined classes of the population to obtain credit, to build or improve their homes. The FSH fills the gap in the current lack of response of the credit system to low-income classes (most of the population). The difficulty in accessing credit in the formal sector resulted in the proliferation of poorly built and unsafe buildings, without architectural quality or spatial planning, and unhealthy, as they were built in places without the minimum conditions of basic sanitation, constituting a focus of diseases. The implementation of the FSH is taken by the government as a lever for the reversal of this situation, which, together with the investment in basic sanitation conditions, namely the expansion of the sewage network, would bring social benefits, including the reduction of clandestine constructions.
- 10.
Hereinafter referred to as by CUBHIS.
- 11.
- 12.
T1 , t2, t3, etc. are the names given to the apartments. A tn has n + 1 rooms in addition to the kitchen, bathrooms, pantry. The most basic apartment is the one which has only one room that also serves as a bedroom; a t1 has a bedroom plus a living room.
- 13.
Data updated for October 2020.
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Legislation
Assembleia Nacional (1992) Constituição da República de Cabo Verde de 1992. Cabo Verde, Praia
CONSTITUIÇÃO DA REPÚBLICA DE CABO VERDE, publicada no Suplemento do B.O. n.° 41, de 13 de Outubro de 1980
CONSTITUIÇÃO DA REPÚBLICA DE CABO VERDE, Decreto-Lei n.° 11, Lei Constitucional n.° 01/IV/92, de 25 de Setembro de 1992
CONSTITUIÇÃO DA REPÚBLICA DE CABO VERDE, Lei Constitucional n.° 01/V/99, de 23 de Novembro de 1999
Decreto Lei n° 754/74, de 28 de Dezembro de 1974 do Ministério … Boletim Oficial de Cabo Verde: n. °2 (1974). Acedido a 24 jan. 2010. Available in: https://www.parlamento.cv/userfiles/image/B.O/B%20O%20n%C2%BA%202%20Supl%20I%20Serie%201975.pdf
Decreto Lei n° 726/74, de 13 de Dezembro de 1974 do Ministério … Boletim Oficial de Cabo Verde: n. °2 (1974). Acedido a 24 jan. 2010. Available in: https://www.parlamento.cv/userfiles/image/B.O/B%20O%20n%C2%BA%202%20Supl%20I%20Serie%201975.pdf
ESTATUTO ORGÂNICO DO ESTADO DE CABO VERDE, Lei n.° 13/74, publicado no B.O. de Cabo Verde n° 2, de 13 de Janeiro de 1975
LEI SOBRE A ORGANIZAÇÃO POLÍTICA DO ESTADO, de 5 de Julho de 1975. Boletim Oficial de Cabo Verde: n. °1 (1975)
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IFH, S.A.; MAHOT; MIHOT; INGT; UNICV; and FCT
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Rodrigues, A.M. (2022). Housing Policies in Cape Verde, 1970–2020: Challenges and Opportunities for Urban Governance. In: Nunes Silva, C. (eds) Local Governance in Cape Verde . Local and Urban Governance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05847-9_9
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