Cooperativa habitacional: uma alternativa para o sonhado acesso à casa própria? O caso da Cooperativa Shangrilá

Abstract

The housing deficit in Brazil has been a persistent issue throughout the country's history. Several collective housing experiences have been and have been fostered both by the government and by other entities and communities. In order to contribute to the discussion of alternatives for this housing deficit problem, this research seeks to analyze whether the housing cooperativism practiced by the Shangrilá cooperative generated socioeconomic benefits for the cooperative residents. Bibliographic surveys and remote interviews were carried out with qualified informants (founders and co-founders of the cooperative, coordinator of popular housing and technical and administrative responsible for the works), in addition to the cooperatives of the Shangrilá cooperative. From the perspective of the social construction of markets, associated with the theory of fields and transaction costs, the benefits of this housing model will be evaluated, from the condition of acquisition and negotiation to the implementation of housing and subsequent management of the housing collective. For data analysis, content analysis was used. Even though it is a housing and mixed cooperative, the Shangrilá cooperative, since its initial formation, has different characteristics of a credit union. Despite the objective having been achieved, the absence of government support was pointed out by cooperatives and qualified informants as a negative point. However, considering that traditional models do not have the capacity to serve all layers of the population, this negative point can be taken into account if the case of the Shangrilá cooperative is observed as an alternative model for home ownership. In this research, social and economic benefits were observed, such as: the development of technical skills, and subjective aspects, such as the feeling of belonging and the promotion of self-esteem; humanism; equality; solidarity; democracy; social justice; the role of agents; and mutualism as a fundamental principle of this group where they are able to reduce transaction costs regarding opportunism and information asymmetry.