Assessing Inclusionary Housing Policy in Santiago, Chile: Residential Segregation by Income, 2006-2016

In 2006, residential integration based on income was included for first time as a main goal in Chile’s national housing policy. In 2015, the National Council for Urban Development (Consejo Nacional de Desarrollo Urbano, CNDU) challenged the homeownership voucher program employed to achieve this goal and recognized the inexistence of any official instrument to measure segregation in Chile. This thesis responds to these concerns and i) provides an index to measure residential segregation of subsidized low-income households; ii) analyzes the index’s change during the last decade; and iii) uses these findings to evaluate whether the new policies introduced in 2006 have reduced the levels of residential segregation in the Region of Santiago (RS). The study demonstrates that new housing policies have not reduced the levels of residential segregation affecting subsidized low-income households in Santiago. Complementary, the thesis analyzes the relation between spatial clusters of government assistance with poverty rates, overcrowded conditions, physical deficiencies, infrastructure and social problems, to demonstrate the persistence of negative urban conditions associated to the location of subsidized stock.