From Owners to Renters: Changing Patterns of Residential Ownership for the Low Income Population in Mexico

For nearly two decades the government of Mexico has encouraged the massive construction of “social interest” housing on the periphery of cities, at a rate of an average of half a million houses a year, mainly aimed at the... [ view full abstract ]

For nearly two decades the government of Mexico has encouraged the massive construction of “social interest” housing on the periphery of cities, at a rate of an average of half a million houses a year, mainly aimed at the low income population. However, this has failed to provide housing for all, as around 60 per cent of the population are excluded from obtaining these properties. At the same time, the construction of “social interest” housing on the periphery has had the effect of significantly increasing land prices and shrinking the informal land market used by the low income population. As a result the urban poor are becoming renters instead of owners, even though there are nearly five million empty houses in the country.

The urbanization process in Mexico began at the end of the 1940s, and by 2010 as many as 78 per cent of the population were living in urban areas. Throughout this period there has been a constant shortage of formal supply of land and housing for the urban poor; thus, access to a residential plot of land has generally been through the informal market. Now, low income housing occupies around 60 per cent of urban areas in Mexico. 

As the informal land market shrinks, the low income population are turning to renting in the originally informal settlements now within the city, or else in the “social interest” housing on the periphery. This represents a significant change in residential land tenure land patterns for the urban poor in Mexico: from being owners to being renters.