Architecture and Planning ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-12-2021

Abstract

This thesis studies the homeownership discourses that encouraged low-income Mexican workers to commit to paying home loans and the process of providing mortgages as a strategy to address housing needs in Mexico with a case study of Homex developments. Homex was a large-scale housing construction project, which enabled me to study housing supply through loans and mortgages.

Currently, the purchase of new housing in Mexico is only accessible to those who receive more than five minimum wages (CONEVAL, 2018). To extend homeownership to low-income workers, financial institutions and the Mexican government promoted mortgage securitization and large-scale construction projects like Homex. However, despite an investment of more than 100 billion dollars (Marosi, 2017c), I argue that the Homex project and the Mexican government policies did not help improve low-income Mexican workers' living conditions. Homex builds housing developments without minimum quality controls, with low-quality materials, and in marginal areas. At the same time, the state provided unpayable loans. The result was 5 million abandoned houses. The most important cause of abandonment is that Mexican workers could not afford them (Altamirano, 2019).

Understanding the failure of policies that promote securitization of mortgages to achieve decent and affordable housing from the perspective of low-income workers can influence and improve the following policies around this issue. This thesis will provide recommendations for future proposals in this area.

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Community and Regional Planning

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

School of Architecture and Planning

First Committee Member (Chair)

Jennifer Tucker

Second Committee Member

Renia Ehrenfeucht

Third Committee Member

Claudia B. Isaac

Keywords

Housing, mortgages, loans, homeownership, discourses

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