Social housing owner's manual: limitations and implications concerning on the right to worthy dwelling

Abstract

The Brazilian Housing Deficit is a problem that is far from having a definitive solution. Although some programs aimed at Social Interest Housing (SIH) contribute to alleviating the negative balance, the right to worthy housing is not limited to the moment of delivery of the property to families: it is also necessary to seek means that enable the conservation of the good quality of the building throughout its useful life. However, in recent years, the recurrent appearance of pathological manifestations, lack of building maintenance and disregard for the content of the owner's manual have been calling attention in SHI, even after the paradigm changes brought by the Performance Standard, NBR 15575 (ABNT, 2013). In this sense, this article aims to find out how the content of manuals for use, operation and maintenance is being made available to SIH users and if there are any differences in the manuals delivered to users with greater purchasing power. For that, evaluations of manuals were carried out according to the formulation proposed by Santos and Schmitt (2003); the grades obtained were grouped into three groups - according to the construction pattern - and treated statistically. Results showed significant differences between the groups and that quality of the manuals tends to present worse results as the constructive standard decreases – assigning the lowest scores to the popular standard. It is concluded that the insufficient content of the manuals of use, operation and maintenance might contribute to SIH users not having worthy housing during the post-construction period.