For a Public History of Housing: the «Casas para Famílias Pobres» program in Portugal

Abstract

This text reconstructs the history of a little-known public funding mechanism for low-income housing, the so-called «Homes for Poor Families» program, which was used in Portugal between 1945 and 1979. The estates built in this framework are still mostly in use today, in sites across the country. Their history is relevant not only for a more complete understanding of the State response to housing shortages in the last century but also for raising awareness of their potential as a relevant piece in addressing current urgent needs in this field. The methodology proposed builds an empirical basis strengthened through thorough research in complementary primary sources, directed at the administrative, procedural and architectural histories of the program, on which to develop, together with resident communities, a co-constructed and participated knowledge of this building stock. With the study of this mechanism in a concrete geographical context (the circumscription of Faro in south Portugal), I intend to test the premises of a public history of emergency housing schemes.