Diplomacia y vivienda, la compleja ecuación que impulsan las ciudades ante la ONU

The issue of housing in major cities emerges as a paramount international concern, due to the increasing prominence of real estate and urban land as lucrative investment spaces. This shift has led to the marginalization of their residential functions. The failure of the mortgage bubble has been succeeded by rising inflationary pressures on rental markets and speculative financial capture of properties. The growing inequality and urban population density associated with this phenomenon is spatially manifested in informal settlements and increased segregation. Moreover, re-investment in established central areas has triggered gentrification processes.

Governments have been grappling with housing problems for some time, facing significant limitations in regulating and intervening in the real estate market, due to resistance from the industry and national governments reluctant to hinder highly sensitive markets that impact their economies. As a result, leading city governments are forging international alliances with actors advocating more proactive public policies to safeguard the social function of cities. They aim to influence global agendas and position themselves politically in areas where they hold divergent stances compared to national governments.

In this context, a group of cities - including Barcelona, Madrid, New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Montreal, Mexico City, and Montevideo, among others - supported by Cities and Local Governments United (CGLU), have promoted a political declaration on the right to housing and the city presented at the High Level Political Forum (HLPF 2018) in New York. This declaration, spearheaded by the Barcelona City Hall in a significant exercise of 'city diplomacy', has dual objectives: to solidify the right to housing as one of the main global challenges for international agendas; and to pressure national governments to enact more favorable policies through a more suitable regulatory framework and better financing.

The signatory city councils appeal to the principle of subsidiarity to tackle the housing issue, requesting more legal and fiscal powers to regulate the real estate market. This includes measures to limit property price increases, such as rent control policies implemented in cities like New York, Paris, or Berlin. They also suggest formulas to channel these gains towards general interest, such as taxation focused on capturing the value increase produced by public improvements in London and New York. In Paris, the development of "in-specie" taxes in the form of a percentage of social housing in new private developments is another approach. In Barcelona, a similar reform aims to include mandatory protected housing in new developments and large rehabilitations.

Beyond additional competencies, resources, and investments from other levels of government are demanded to promote public rental housing or affordable housing solutions, such as cooperatives in Montevideo. Despite the municipal governments' efforts to manage their territories more directly, the necessary socialization of resources to foster a significant public housing stock should be carried out at a broader scale. The extensive and distributed public housing stock in London, for example, was achieved through a significant construction effort supported by national governments.

The problem of housing is not a local issue but should be addressed by all levels of government. The goal of these measures is to provide "adequate housing" for all citizens, reduce socio-spatial segregation in the city, encourage integrated neighborhoods, and protect residential uses against speculative activities. However, in their pursuit of consensus, the signatories of the Declaration have opted for broad approaches, avoiding explicit positioning on some pressing urban issues, such as the gentrification of popular neighborhoods.

The Declaration, adopted by city governments implementing diverse, sometimes contradictory urban policies, has prioritized commonalities and visibility of unity in the global agenda's most relevant scenario. Although it does not fully meet each city's expectations, it demonstrates a consensus around an overarching idea: local governments require more competencies and resources to reinforce the social role of housing and cities. It remains to be seen how these signatory cities will concretize the proposals outlined in the Declaration and how the international narrative will shape local policies. The transition from a conceptual framework at the international level to concrete local policies is crucial. The accountability of these city governments will ultimately lie with their citizens.