2016: The National Assembly Passed a Housing Law which the Supreme Court Declared Unconstitutional

Beginning in the 1930s people began moving from rural to urban areas. No programs were adopted to provide housing. Millions of people erected makeshift dwellings on hillsides creating the “Barrios.” Many of these dwellings were substandard. Many families could not afford to purchase private housing elsewhere. The Great Housing Mission was established in 2011 by Hugo Chavez’s government. Public funds are used to build the homes which are then permanently leased to residents. The residents effectively own the home to permanently live in, but are barred from freely selling their units. The government provides residents with a payment plan based on their means. By January 2016, a million homes had been built [1]. 

On January 14, 2016, opposition Deputy Julio Borges introduced a Bill to privatize public housing. Residents would be granted deeds to their properties, allowing them to freely sell their homes. According to Borges, as private homeowners, families would be able to assemble wealth. Housing Minister Manuel Quevedo criticized the Bill saying: “Behind this property law are the financiers who want to get their hands on more than a million homes” [2].  Housing rights groups took to the streets to protest the plan [2]. Many residents feared that they would be unable to access the houses once they were floated on the highly speculative and unaffordable private housing market [3]. The Housing Bill was passed by the Assembly on April 13.

President Maduro submitted the Law to the Supreme Court to determine its constitutionality. On May 6, the Court ruled that the Law was in violation of the right to housing which must be guaranteed by the government as stipulated in the Constitution [4]. As such, the Law contravened the Constitution’s principle of “progressivity” with regard to human rights and constituted a “regression” that would reduce the right to housing to “a mere consumer necessity.”[4]



1.     Venezuelanalysis, Venezuelan Housing Programme Hands over Millionth Home, January 2, 2016

2.     Venezuelanalysis, Venezuela’s President to Move into Public housing Unit, Amid Protests over housing Privatization, April 15, 2016

3.     Venezuelanalysis, Venezuelans Protest Privatization of Social Housing as Parliament Approves in First Discussion, January 30, 2016

4.     Venezuelanalysis, Venezuelan Supreme Court Blocks Housing Privatization Law, May 9, 2016

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