The Pandemic and the Right to Housing
Diego Fidel Doat and Carlos Fidel[1]
INTRODUCTION
This article will address the issue of "access to and the right to housing" as a matter intertwined with several concrete and symbolic dimensions. Therefore, it will attempt to present the main material, economic, social, and legal aspects that influence the problem under study.
The exhibition is situated in recent times, and within this context, we analyze the main features that emerged in early 2020, when COVID-19 broke out globally, focusing on its consequences in Argentina and its connection to the housing problem. It points out that the housing issue has several facets, ranging from economic to legal factors; all these dimensions are linked and interact in a constant state of flux, depending on the historical moment analyzed, but which together create a situation that tends to worsen over time.
This work focuses on the functions of the State and centers on finding ways to address the housing issue, particularly as it directly affects the poorest segments of the population. This population suffers the most from the consequences of lacking decent and environmentally habitable housing.
PANDEMIC IN CONTEXT
In early 2020, from an unknown location, an unprecedented global illness emerged: COVID-19. While there are numerous disagreements regarding its causes and effects, there seems to be a general consensus that it is a highly contagious and potent virus. Air travel was the primary means of transportation.[2]It spread rapidly throughout the world, causing deaths and illnesses of varying intensity, depending on the region and the extent of the situation being recorded. immunological .
The emergence of the pandemic tested various aspects and actors of social and material reproduction. One of the initial challenges was the responsiveness of the healthcare systems in each country.
Government responses in the health sector were generally focused on expanding the capacity of hospitals and medical centers, refocusing patient care priorities, and strengthening the specialized workforce in various branches of healthcare. Meanwhile, major pharmaceutical companies were rapidly developing new vaccines.
While these devices were being developed, one of the first and main government strategies was the interruption or reduction of the flows of people, goods and services that circulated between and within countries; a measure that was adopted to promote isolation and social distancing, with the aim of avoiding contagious human contact.
At first glance, closing borders would seem to be a old measure but highly effective in preventing the spread if it can be sustained over time.
These state measures had significant repercussions in the economic, social, and individual dimensions. In terms of economic relations, it could be argued that they amplified and intensified the recessionary effects on overall material production, a phenomenon already present before the pandemic. The contraction in production and consumption is associated with increased unemployment. In many cases, the pandemic caused multiple hardships in material living conditions. This can be demonstrated by analyzing various indicators, such as social segmentation, territorial location, and housing and living conditions, which showed that the pandemic affected the population unequally, with particular intensity in lower-income social segments and/or those marginalized from the formal market. Within the productive and/or service sectors, some suffered a greater recessionary impact than others. The pandemic particularly affected less essential activities that could be substituted, such as tourism and recreation. Furthermore, sales contracted in most sectors that sold goods and services in person, forcing many businesses to close. Other activities expanded during the pandemic, especially primary production and digital support services. Global economic activity plummeted by 4,3% in 2020, roughly 2,5 times more than during the 2009 global economic depression. A 4,7% recovery is projected for 2021. In 2020, the regional GDP of Latin American and Caribbean countries contracted by 8%. (ECLAC, https://www.cepal.org/es/comunicados/america-latina-caribe-nuevo-informe-la-onu-advierte-recuperacion-economica-fragil). These figures were reflected in daily life and cast a shadow of uncertainty over the present and the future, adding to the uncertainty inherent in the deregulated functioning of the global market, which navigates paths marked by recurring crises. (https://www.workers.org/2012/08/3608/)
The combination of detrimental health consequences, coupled with recessionary effects on material and symbolic modes of production, circulation, and consumption, was compounded by bursts of existential unease that affected all genders, ethnicities, and social segments; it particularly harmed the dispossessed populations settled in areas characterized by multiple deficiencies in urban habitat and housing conditions.
ACCESS TO HOUSING
Latin American cities are characterized by stark fragmentation, expressed at one extreme by hyper-urbanized zones, often recently built, with spacious housing, modern designs, and green spaces equipped with all modern urban services and access. At the other extreme are vast urban areas inhabited by impoverished populations living in overcrowded dwellings constructed with substandard materials, lacking adequate transportation infrastructure and internal circulation routes, and with a significant absence of basic urban services and green spaces. One of the most lacking resources during the pandemic was piped access to drinking water (see Table No. 1), which is essential not only for life but also for maintaining the hygiene necessary to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. Between these two extremes of urban inequality are areas inhabited by people of middle and low incomes, who, depending on the city, have relatively good quality housing and green spaces, equipped with connections, facilities, and services in good condition.
The urban map is crisscrossed by strips of segregation and discrimination of material origin that derive from social and patrimonial condition, combined with those that originate from cultural reasons, such as gender, religious and ethnic issues.
In this complex and contradictory urban fabric, real estate capital operates alongside the local government, two actors that often coincide in the dynamics of design, construction, renovation, or new development within urban areas. The intervention dynamic, dominated by real estate capital, generally associated with financial capital, establishes a modality of operation and a trajectory guided by the pursuit of “extraordinary” profits based on the differentiating factors of the urban territory.
One of the differentiating factors can emerge from “public intervention,” enabling exceptions for the construction and/or building of urban facilities and infrastructure—public interventions that increase the value of urban land. Real estate/financial capital operations are aimed at capturing the housing demand of middle and upper-income segments, while impoverished population segments coexist in the worst areas, lacking decent housing and services appropriate to the modern world; generally, they are neglected by local and national governments, especially when those governments are neoliberal.
An approach to the dimensions of the housing problem.
In 2020, when the global COVID pandemic began, in Argentina, as in other countries, the government adopted the slogan of "Isolation" and then "Mandatory Social Distancing" and its derivative "Stay at Home".
This directive meant that for many people, maintaining their employment relationship through teleworking, giving classes or studying at home through tele-education, shopping online, enjoying entertainment through tele-cinema, tele-gymnastics and other activities, and conducting remote medical consultations. tele-psychoanalysis and othersEstablishing contacts remotely meant changing schedules and how the home was used. It also required having the appropriate equipment. The combination of home size and condition with the number of family members, their age, gender, education, and health status meant that, in most cases, they were unprepared for the "stay-at-home" situation. New situations, tensions, and unprecedented human relationships emerged.
For the workforce that continued to perform in-person work, the commute from home to the workplace became a source of anxiety, due to having to travel in public vehicles where the possibility of becoming infected increased.
The preceding paragraphs demonstrate that housing conditions, habitat, transportation, and digital connectivity have taken on a new central importance. One way to approach this issue is to focus on access to housing, which requires both a quantitative and qualitative understanding of the matter. In Argentina, there is no precise data on the housing situation, much less on the specific conditions within all urban centers.
Based on data from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) prepared by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), we will present an approximation of the housing deficiencies suffered by a significant portion of the urban population.
Due to methodological issues in the survey conducted, the following data represent a reduced approximation of the problem. (Fidel, Carlos; Di Tomaso, Raul and Farias, Cristina (2021).
Given that specialists predict the emergence of new pandemic strains and/or viruses, which could alter labor market relationships, forms of education, healthcare, and recreational activities, and transform housing use, habitats, communication networks, and transportation, this issue becomes central in terms of rights and needs. These factors amplify and redefine the relevance of the topic we are addressing.
Right to Housing. Regulatory Framework.
Article 14 bis of the National Constitution of the Argentine Republic stipulates that a law will establish access to decent housing. The scope of this right could be analyzed in light of regulations from both private law and the National Constitution itself. Moscariello argues that, according to the legislative technique used in Article 14 bis, “The national constitution has linked access to housing with the dignity of the human person, adding the qualifier "dignified." In this regard, with the constitutionalization of private law, human dignity constitutes the source of...
Human rights, and according to some more modern doctrine a principle with constitutional status, are regulated in the new Civil and Commercial Code (articles 51, 52 et seq. and related articles). Linked to the right of access to decent housing are the affirmative actions that the National Congress must adopt (art. 75, paragraph 23) in order to legislate and promote measures of this type "that guarantee real equality of opportunity and treatment.""[3]
In the same vein, Gelli states that the scope of the right to housing must be interpreted in accordance with Article 75, paragraph 19 (new progress clause), which establishes as a competence of the National Congress to provide what is conducive to human development, as well as "promoting differentiated policies that tend to balance the unequal relative development of provinces and regions," thus placing on the State the duty to design public policies to facilitate access to decent housing, materialized through positive actions.[4]
Furthermore, the right to housing is recognized in various international human rights instruments which, since the 1994 reform, have constitutional status, as established by Article 75, paragraph 22 of the National Constitution. Among these, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights stands out, which in Article 11 states that “The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child states in its art. 27, paragraph 3 that “States Parties, in accordance with national conditions and their means, shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others responsible for the child to realize this right and, where necessary, shall provide material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing.
The right to housing is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Art. 25), the American Convention on Human Rights (Art. 26), the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (Art. 11), and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Art. 5, paragraph e). The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (Law 23.197) recognizes, in Art. 14, paragraph 2, subparagraph h), the right to enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in the area of housing.
In the realm of international law, the scope of the right to housing has been analyzed by most of the international bodies, organizations, and tribunals with jurisdiction to do so. Given that it is not our intention to provide an exhaustive analysis of its scope within the framework of international law, as this could constitute a research topic in itself, we will use as a general reference General Comment No. 4 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ECOSOC), entitled “The right to adequate housing (paragraph 1 of article 11 of the Covenant).”
Regarding the scope of the right to housing, ECOSOC held that “First, the right to housing is inextricably linked to other human rights and to the fundamental principles that underpin the Covenant. Thus, “the inherent dignity of the human person,” from which the Covenant’s rights are said to derive, requires that the term “housing” be interpreted in a way that takes into account various other considerations, and primarily that the right to housing must be guaranteed to everyone, regardless of their income or access to economic resources. Second, the reference in paragraph 1 of Article 11 should not be understood as simply housing, but rather as adequate housingAs the Commission on Human Settlements and the World Housing Strategy to the Year 2000 have recognized in paragraph 5: “the concept of ‘adequate housing’…” It means having a place where one can isolate oneself if desired.Adequate space, adequate security, adequate lighting and ventilation, adequate basic infrastructure, and a suitable situation in relation to work and basic services, all at a reasonable cost«. (paragraph 7, the highlighting is ours)
We believe that within the framework of the line of analysis that we have been developing in this article, the scope of the right of access to adequate housing expressed by ECOSOC acquires even greater relevance than it did when it was issued more than twenty years ago.
In this sense, more than two decades before we as a society could imagine the possibility of a global pandemic like the one caused by COVID-19[5]ECOSOC held that “Although the international community has frequently reaffirmed the importance of full respect for the right to adequate housing, a worrying gap remains between the standards set out in paragraph 1 of Article 11 of the Covenant and the situation in many regions of the world. While these problems are often particularly acute in some developing countries facing severe resource and other constraints, The Committee notes that there are also considerable problems of lack of housing and inadequate housing in some of the most economically developed societies.The United Nations estimates that there are more than 100 million homeless people and more than 1.000 billion people living in inadequate housing worldwide. There is no indication that these figures are decreasing. It seems clear that no State Party is free from significant problems of one kind or another related to the right to housing.."(paragraph 4, the highlighting belongs to us)."
Such a statement regarding housing and the right to access housing was compelling, and the course of contemporary history only served to confirm it. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have only intensified the global trend in housing.
The ECOSOC develops the aspects that must be taken into account in relation to the scope of the right to decent housing, among which it highlights legal security of tenure; availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure; affordable costs; affordability; location; cultural suitability; and habitability, of which we particularly highlight what is developed in paragraph 8.d: “Adequate housing must be habitable, in the sense of being able to offer adequate space to its occupants and protect them from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health, structural risks and disease vectorsIt must also guarantee the physical safety of the occupants. The Committee urges States Parties to widely implement the WHO Housing Hygiene Principles, which consider housing as the environmental factor most frequently associated with disease-promoting conditions in epidemiological analyses; in other words, inadequate and poor housing and living conditions are invariably associated with higher mortality and morbidity rates."
On the other hand, it is interesting to take what ECOSOC stated in paragraph 12 as a starting point to try to analyze and contextualize state intervention in housing matters: “While the most appropriate means for achieving the full realization of the right to adequate housing will inevitably vary from one State Party to another, the Covenant clearly requires each State Party to take all necessary measures to that end. will almost invariably require the adoption of a national housing strategy which, as stated in paragraph 32 of the World Housing Strategy, "defines the objectives for the development of housing conditions, determines the resources available to achieve these objectives and seeks the most cost-effective way to use these resources, in addition to establishing the responsibilities and timetable for the implementation of the necessary measures«.
In the same vein, he argues that “Measures to fulfill a State Party's obligations regarding the right to adequate housing may consist of a mix of public and private sector actions deemed appropriate. While in some States public housing finance may be more effectively used for the direct construction of new housing, experience has shown that, in most cases, governments are unable to fully address housing deficits through publicly constructed housing alone. Therefore, States Parties should be encouraged to promote "capable strategies," combined with a full commitment to their obligations regarding the right to adequate housing. Essentially, the obligation consists of demonstrating that, taken together, the measures being taken are sufficient to realize each individual's right in the shortest possible time in accordance with the maximum of available resources.."
National regulatory analysis on housing in the context of the pandemic
Within the framework of the national government's administrative structure, until December 9, 2019, the body responsible for implementing national housing policy held the rank of a Secretariat of State. The administration that took office on December 10, 2019 (even a few months before the pandemic began), among other changes to the organizational chart, established the Ministry of Territorial Development and Habitat and reinstated the Ministry of Health.
Just three months later, through Decree PEN No. 260/20, the health emergency was declared and through Decree PEN No. 297/20, the Mandatory Preventive Social Isolation (ASPO) was ordered.
Within this emergency framework, through Presidential Decree No. 319/20, among other measures, the value of mortgage payments for properties intended as primary residences and occupied for that purpose by the debtor or their successors in title, whether singular or universal, was frozen. The payment could not exceed the amount corresponding to the same mortgage for the month of March of the current year. Furthermore, judicial and extrajudicial mortgage foreclosures were suspended. This measure was initially established until September 30, 2020, and later extended until January 31 by Presidential Decree No. 767/20.
On the other hand, through Decree PEN No. 320/20, the suspension of evictions throughout the national territory was ordered, until September 30 of that year (extended by Decree PEN No. 766/20 until January 31, 2021) and the suspension of the execution of judicial sentences whose object is the eviction of properties of those identified in art. 9°[6] of the aforementioned decree[7]Likewise, it extended until the same date the validity of the lease agreements for the properties identified in Article 9 and of the contracts covered by Article 1218 of the Civil Code[8]Similarly, Article 12 suspended the application of Article 6 of Law No. 26.589 for a period of one year.[9], for the enforcement and eviction processes regulated in the decree under analysis.
Furthermore, Article 4 stipulated the freezing of rental prices for the lease agreements of properties mentioned in the preceding paragraph and established that during the validity of the measure, the rental price corresponding to the month of March 2020 must be paid. However, Article 6 establishes that the difference resulting between the amount contractually agreed upon and the amount payable under Article 4 must be paid by the lessee in at least 3 and at most 6 equal and consecutive monthly installments, with the first installment due on the same date as the rental payment contractually corresponding to the month of October 2020.
Similarly, Article 7 established that debts that could arise from the date of entry into force of the decree until September 30, 2020 (later extended by Decree PEN 766/20), originating from non-payment, payments made outside the agreed contractual deadlines or partial payments, must be paid in at least 3 and at most 6 monthly, equal and consecutive installments, with the first of them due on the same date as the expiry of the rental fee that contractually corresponded to the month of October 2020 (later extended until the month of February 2021 by Decree PEN No. 766/20).
Furthermore, Article 10 stipulated that lease agreements whose lessor depends on the agreed rent in the lease agreement to cover their basic needs or those of their primary and cohabiting family group are excluded from the provisions of Article 4 of the decree, and such circumstances must be duly proven.
Beyond establishing the impact and scope of the public policy established by the decrees under analysis, it is possible to affirm that it is geared toward the formalized market. Thus, it proved almost impossible to guarantee its compliance in informal transactions, such as rentals in low-income neighborhoods.
In this regard, it is interesting to note the intervention of the Secretariat for Socio-Urban Integration[10]Among whose objectives are to understand the design and implementation of rehabilitation, socio-urban integration and territorial development policies; to understand the social and urban transformation of vulnerable neighborhoods and areas, through a comprehensive approach that favors their integration and the human development of their communities; to understand the strengthening of community organization and the design of mechanisms for the participation of local actors in the development and implementation of socio-urban integration projects; to participate in the design and execution of urban infrastructure and habitat improvement projects, aimed at the integration of vulnerable neighborhoods and urban areas; to participate in the design and implementation of policies for access to credit and housing, and of land regularization strategies to promote housing solutions in the communities addressed in socio-urban integration projects; and to understand the administration and management of the NATIONAL REGISTER OF POPULAR NEIGHBORHOODS IN THE PROCESS OF URBAN INTEGRATION (RENABAP)[11]and carry out its evaluation and monitoring.
Among the specific objectives of the Secretariat of Socio-Urban Integration are guaranteeing access to the water, sewage and electricity network, as well as regularizing land tenure in favor of the residents of the more than 4.400 popular neighborhoods in the country[12].
For its part, the Ministry of Territorial Development created specific programs such as “Habitar la Emergencia” (Living in the Emergency)[13] created within the framework of the Federal Program Argentina Construye and whose strategic lines of action are oriented towards community facilities, neighborhood completions, home connections and sanitary centers.
Situation in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA)
The Constitution of the City of Buenos Aires provides in its article 31 that “The City recognizes the right to decent housing and an adequate habitat. To this end, it progressively addresses the housing, infrastructure, and service deficit, prioritizing people in sectors of extreme poverty and those with special needs and limited resources. It encourages the incorporation of vacant properties, promotes self-managed housing plans, the urban and social integration of marginalized residents, the rehabilitation of substandard housing, and the regularization of property titles and cadastral records, with criteria for permanent settlement. It regulates establishments that provide temporary accommodation, taking care to exclude those that disguise rentals.. "
However, according to the Ombudsman's Office of the City of Buenos Aires, it is estimated that the total deficit in the City of Buenos Aires is 15% of the population, which affects about half a million people.[14].
Public housing policies in the City of Buenos Aires were not abundant, regardless of the ongoing urban renewal processes in low-income neighborhoods.[15].
The central focus of local public policy on housing materialized through the program "Attention for Families in Street Situations".[16]which provides a housing subsidy that is updated periodically but appears to be insufficient both in the amounts and in its real effectiveness as a concrete housing solution.
One might consider whether, as we have developed in this article, public policies (especially in the area of the City of Buenos Aires) comply with the standards established by the regulations presented together with the interpretation of the ECOSOC and international jurisprudence in general, regarding the requirement to guarantee economic, social and cultural rights to the maximum of available resources.
Conversely, it would be possible to observe a lack of creativity in public housing policies in the City of Buenos Aires, as it resulted in the implementation of the same housing subsidy program (updating the amounts), created in a context of socio-economic growth such as that which Argentina was experiencing in 2006, a situation totally contrary to the one we have had to go through in the context of the pandemic.
Conclusions
This paper explores the scope of the housing access and right issue within the context of the global COVID-19 pandemic and its socioeconomic consequences, both globally and locally, particularly regarding housing. The pandemic compels us to reconsider the scope of housing access and the right to housing, and within this framework, the implementation of creative public policies is imperative. These policies aim to satisfy this fundamental need and address its collateral impact on the rights that cannot be guaranteed in cases where housing situations remain unresolved.
Throughout the text, in relation to housing, we analyzed the new dilemmas and emerging challenges as a result of the pandemic that were added to those that existed previously, especially focusing on examining the material deficiencies and the rights that concern the most dispossessed and excluded segments of Argentine society.
The vital, unmet, and necessary demands for housing and habitat for a socially just and environmentally appropriate life are of enormous magnitude, and they have been increasing under successive governments. neoliberals in the cities of the last few decades and in the new ones of the needs generated by the pandemic and its effects on living conditions.
This paper analyzes the main problems and measures adopted to guarantee the right to housing by both the National Executive Branch and the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The key aspects of national public housing policies in the context of the pandemic appear to indicate a genuine attempt to manage public policy on housing, although, given the severity of the socioeconomic context discussed in this article, they clearly seem insufficient.
It is essential to highlight the lack of a systemic and efficient housing policy on the part of the Executive Branch of the City of Buenos Aires. The absence of concrete and effective measures in a context of marked socioeconomic and, fundamentally, housing deterioration has a highly negative impact on the living conditions of the inhabitants of one of the wealthiest cities in the country.
In general terms, housing policy should be versatile, participatory, agile, and up-to-date, appropriate to each region; adjusting to a strong background Permanent and renewable public financing for acquiring land and affordable housing, subsidized in a segmented manner to the population according to their needs and income levels. This should follow the following steps: articulated axles:
- Structure of derechos appropriate and effective, especially that dimension of rights linked to the right to housing: access to public services, transport, education, health, connectivity, etc.
- Real consultation directly to the users in the location and design of the final goods.
- To avoid all present and future possibilities of overcrowding the constructions produced by the users.
- physically and virtually to specific urban and digital networks.
- Keeping sustainable spatiality of the final products.
- Habitat and housing endowed of all public services and facilities.
- To convene and promote the establishment of teams of popular cooperatives derived from the social economy for the construction and maintenance of the goods produced.
- Create and maintain a reserve urban land.
- Linking habitat and housing policy with the development of the productive forcesDesigning public policies that follow a sustainable path, with an equitable distribution of rights and access to material and symbolic surpluses.
Without a doubt, one of the great challenges we have as a society in the post-pandemic era is how to concretely and effectively materialize the progressive nature of economic, social and cultural rights, especially the right to housing.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ECLAC, https://www.cepal.org/es/comunicados/america-latina-caribe-nuevo-informe-la-onu-advierte-recuperacion-economica-fragil
Fidel, Carlos (2021): “Cities facing socioeconomic and health challenges in times of technological transformation".
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/tags/51975-unidades-urbanas-de-trabajo-y-produccion
Fidel, Carlos (2021): “Links: Pandemic, Inflation and Transferred Economic Surplus in Argentina”.
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/353532-pandemia-inflacion-y-excedente-economico
Fidel, Carlos; Di Tomaso, Raúl and Farías, Cristina (2021): “Apogee and decline of the urban extractivist model in Argentina? (2015-2019)”.
Currently being submitted for publication in the journal "Social Sciences, second series". UNQ.
The Right to Adequate Housing. Measures adopted within the framework of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Ombudsman's Office of the City of Buenos Aires. April 2020. Available at: https://defensoria.org.ar/noticias/el-derecho-a-una-vivienda-adecuada-medidas-adoptadas-en-el-marco-de-la-pandemia-covid-19/
The housing situation in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Ombudsman's Office. Available at: https://www.defensoria.org.ar/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SituacionHabitiacional-1.pdf
“Right of access to land and housing: its protection from a legal and public policy perspective.” Agustín R. Moscariello. Available at http://www.mndabogados.com.ar/files/MOSCARIELLO-ACCESO-A-LA-TIERRA.pdf
Gelli, María Angélica, Constitution of the Argentine Nation. Annotated and concorded. Volume I, 4th expanded and updated edition, La Ley, Buenos Aires, 2008.
[1] Fidel Doat, Diego: Lawyer, UBA – Fidel, Carlos: Research Professor, UNQ, Co-coordinator of the CLACSO Working Group on Poverty and Social Policies. Article originally published in: https://publicaciones.unpaz.edu.ar/OJS/index.php/ab/article/view/1090/1010.
[2] It might be interesting to analyze the effect of the first pandemic in times of hyperconnectivity and social networks, particularly on the effect of the circulation of false or malicious information and its possible consequence on the difficulty of applying public policies aimed at containing the health situation.
[3] Moscariello, Agustín R., Right of access to land and housing: its care from a perspective of law and public policies.
[4] Gelli, María Angélica, Constitution of the Argentine Nation. Annotated and Concorded. Volume I, 4th expanded and updated edition, La Ley, Buenos Aires, 2008, p. 225.
[5] Although it is clear that this is not the first pandemic in the history of humanity (and it certainly won't be the last either).
[6] ARTICLE 9°.- CONTRACTS COVERED: The measures provided for in this decree shall apply to the following lease agreements:
1. Properties intended for use as a primary residence in urban or rural areas. 2. Rooms intended for family or personal use in boarding houses, hotels, or other similar accommodations. 3. Properties intended for cultural or community activities. 4. Rural properties intended for small-scale family farming and small-scale agricultural production. 5. Properties rented by individuals registered under the Simplified Tax Regime (Monotributo) for the provision of services, commerce, or industry. 6. Properties rented by self-employed professionals for the practice of their profession. 7. Properties rented by Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) as defined in Law No. 24.467 and its amendments, for the provision of services, commerce, or industry. 8. Properties rented by Worker Cooperatives or Recovered Companies registered with the National Institute of Cooperatives and Social Economy (INAES).
[7] ...provided that the litigation has been brought by the breach of the payment obligation in a lease agreement and the possession of the property is in the possession of the lessee, his successors or successors -in the terms of article 1190 of the Civil and Commercial Code of the Nation-, his successors or successors by reason of death, or of a sublessee or a sublessor, if there is one.
[8] Article 1218.- Continuation of a Terminated Lease. If the agreed-upon term or the minimum legal term in the absence of an agreement expires, and the lessee remains in possession of the property, there is no tacit renewal, but rather the continuation of the lease under the same terms agreed upon, until either party terminates the contract by means of a reliable communication. The receipt of payments during the continuation of the lease does not alter the provisions of the first paragraph.
[9] ARTICLE 6 — Optional application of the mandatory pre-trial mediation procedure. In cases of enforcement and evictions, the mandatory pre-trial mediation procedure will be optional for the claimant, and the respondent may not challenge this option.
[10] Decree No. 804 of October 14, 2020 transferred the SECRETARIAT OF SOCIO-URBAN INTEGRATION and its dependent UNDERSECRETARIAT OF LAND MANAGEMENT AND NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES from the MINISTRY OF TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT AND HABITAT to the scope of the MINISTRY OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT.
[11] Created by Decree PEN No. 358/2017
[12] https://www.argentina.gob.ar/desarrollosocial/integracionsociourbana
[13] Created by RESOL-2020-16-APN-SH#MDTYH.
[14] The housing situation in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. Ombudsman's Office. https://www.defensoria.org.ar/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SituacionHabitiacional-1.pdf
[15] Barrio Rodrigo Bueno, Playón de Chacarita, Barrio Padre Mugica and Villa 20 are undoubtedly the most important urban renewal processes of popular neighborhoods in recent decades in the area of the City of Buenos Aires.
[16] Created by Decree GCBA No. 690/06 and amendments.
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