Conflicto de alquileres y política de vivienda social en la década de 1920. El caso de Chile

Abstract

Rent conflicts engendered in Chile in the mid-1920's had relevant impacts in the efforts of the Chilean state to resolve housing issues. The rental code of 1925 reduced by 50% the canons for renting and established housing courts. The expected results of these reforms were hindered by cunning arguments deployed by both property owners and tenants to take advantage of the benefits established by the law. In turn, the Law of Affordable Housing promulgated also in 1925 provided new incentives to construct affordable housing, issue that was not addressed correctly by the 1906 regulation that, however, prompted the demolition of several housing units in unhealthy condition. These initiatives achieved limited results regarding construction of new affordable units, but had significant impacts in consolidating a public institutional arrangement to address housing issues.