USING THE PUBLIC POLICY LEGAL ANALYSIS FRAMEWORK: THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MINHA CASA, MINHA VIDA, FAIXA 1, IN THE CITY OF SÃO PAULO

Abstract

One of the main challenges of the Law and Public Policy approach is to develop a method that allows comparability between researches that analyses government action in all its complexity. A methodological response to this problem is the use of a “Public Policy Legal Analysis Framework” that organizes in a systematic way the main elements that should be analysed by legal scholars when studying a public policy. This paper will present an example of that framework´s use when analyzing the implementation of the main housing policy program in Brazil, Minha Casa, Minha Vida´s (MCMV), in the city of São Paulo, most specifically the subprograms aimed at the lowest income demographic (Faixa 1 range). This paper will be divided in four parts after introduction. The first one, more theoretical, focuses on the main challenges of using the framework when analyzing a complex policy like MCMV that has its main rules determined at the federal level but is implemented in thousands of cities at the municipal level. The second one presents the program main rules which are stablished by the federal government. The third one presents data on the implementation of MCMV in São Paulo. The final part of the paper sheds light to the difficulties and innovations that derived from the implementation of a federal housing program in the municipal level focusing on the juridical tools used to overcome these constraints and also providing a critical analysis of the MCMV´s outcomes.