En lugar de considerar a los campamentos como pasivos receptores de problemas que suceden en su entorno, sugerimos entenderlos como una respuesta que los pobres urbanos dan a sus necesidades habitacionales. Ellos apren- dieron durante generaciones que para sobrevivir deben arreglárselas por su cuenta, aunque eso exija recorrer sendas que no se ajustan al orden establecido. El Padre Josse van der Rest lo re- sumía magistralmente: “los pobres viven fuera de la ley o mueren dentro de la ella”. 2 En todo el sur global encaran sus carencias de vivienda a partir de sus propias “políticas habitacionales”, muy diferentes a las que desde los gobiernos se enfocan, sobre todo, en producir viviendas de buen diseño y calidad para resolver de manera definitiva las carencias habitacionales. Estas estrategias en cambio apuntan más a generar y fortalecer sus procesos de auto-alojamiento, y a asegurar su efectividad.
Las estrategias informales de alojamiento crecen o decrecen dependiendo de lo que sucede en materia de políticas de vivienda. En la medida de lo posible, ellas hacen lo que las otras dejan de hacer. A su vez, el desempeño cuantitativo de las políticas influye en la evo- lución de tomas y campamentos, y el aumento de los asentamientos informales permite aco- ger, al menos en parte, las necesidades que aquellas dejan pendientes. Así se observa en nuestra propia trayectoria habitacional. En los años de 1960 y hasta comienzos de la década siguiente, los pobres urbanos que no lograban conseguir un techo por medio de los programas de vivienda social recurrían a las tomas de terreno. Luego, durante el gobierno militar, un severo control policial prácticamente impidió que se realizaran invasiones, y la es- casa oferta de nuevas viviendas por parte de las primeras políticas neoliberales obligaba
Instead of considering the shantytowns as passive receptors of problems that happen in their environment, we suggest understanding them as a way for the urban poor to respond to their housing needs. Over generations, they have learned that in order to survive, they must fend for themselves, even if that means following paths that do not conform to the established order. Father Josse van der Rest summed it up masterfully: "the poor live outside the law or die inside it". 2 Throughout the global south, they face housing shortages from their own "housing policies", which are very different from those that governments focus, above all, on producing well-designed and quality housing to solve hous- ing shortages definitively. These strategies, on the other hand, are aimed more toward creating and strengthening their DIY-housing processes and ensuring their effectiveness. Informal housing strategies grow or shrink depending on what happens in terms of hous- ing policies. Where possible, they do what the others fail to do. At the same time, the policies' quantitative performance influences the growth of tomas and shantytowns, and the increase in informal settlements makes it possible to meet, at least in part, the needs left pending by the policies. This can be seen in our own housing trajectory. In the 1960s and until the beginning of the following decade, the urban poor who were unable to obtain a roof over their heads through social housing programs resorted to tomas . Later, during the military government, severe police control practically prevented squatting from taking place, and the scarce supply of new housing provided by the first neoliberal policies forced homeless families to stay in the homes and yards of relatives and acquaintances. The housing crisis thus grew to nearly 1 million dwellings by the end of the 1980s. 3 Once democracy was restored, the policies of the 1990s made significant efforts to produce enough units for those who urgently needed them, which allowed land seizures to increase only moderately. In the last two de- cades, an option to prioritize housing quality had repercussions on the quantity and quality of the housing units. 4 Today we are once again facing a severe housing crisis, although in a very different po- litical context from that of the 1980s. This time, the lack of affordable housing for the poorest did contribute to the accelerated increase of the population in tomas and shantytowns. 2 Josse van der Rest SJ (1924-2020), a Belgian priest who arrived in Chile in 1958, supported the Hogar de Cristo Housing Foundation with "mediaguas" for the urban poor who lacked shelter. 3 In 1983 there was a massive toma that gave rise to the Cardenal Raúl Silva Henríquez and Monseñor Fresno shantytowns, which were later eliminated. 4 The emphasis on housing quality came after serious flaws were reported in a social housing complex in Santiago in 1997, causing the public to question the sector's policy.
LAS ESTRATEGIAS INFORMALES DE ALOJAMIENTO CRECEN O DECRECEN DEPENDIENDO DE LO QUE SUCEDE EN MATERIA DE POLÍTICAS DE VIVIENDA. EN LA MEDIDA DE LO POSIBLE, ELLAS HACEN LO QUE LAS OTRAS DEJAN DE HACER. Informal housing strategies grow or shrink depending on what happens in terms of housing policies. Where possible, they do what the others fail to do.
2 El P. Josse van der Rest sj (1924-2020), sacerdote belga que llegó a Chile el año 1958, apoyó desde la Fundación de Viviendas Hogar de Cristo con “mediaguas” a los pobres urbanos que carecían de techo.
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AOA / n°46
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