Viable self-management: The FUNACOM Housing Programme of the São Paulo Municipality

This paper describes the FUNACOM Housing Programme (Municipal Programme to support Housing for Low Income Groups through self-management). More specifically, the basis of the programme, community self-management and community participation, reinforced by the involvement of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), will be focused upon. FUNACOM, designed by the Municipality of São Paulo (1989–1992), directly allocated money, needed to improve housing and infrastructure conditions, to low-income families organised in so-called community associations. They linked up with technical assistance teams who, as NGOs, assisted both in elaborating projects and organising the process of building based on self-management and mutual-help. The associations, however, were ultimately the entity which managed the financial resources and the mutual-help projects.