Public-private partnership for social housing: institutional principles for the expansion of the housing market in São Paulo

Abstract The article deals with the dynamics of the articulations between State and market in the housing sector, in view of the rise of neoliberalism and the diffusion of a public policy agenda grounded on the hegemony of the "new institutional economy". Based on a case study about a public-private partnership project for the provision of social housing promoted by Agência Casa Paulista, we present a reflection on the changes and continuities that the current housing policy model of the State of São Paulo represents in relation to the previous model, carried out by Companhia Paulista de Desenvolvimento Habitacional e Urbano (CDHU). The collected data revealed that the primacy in the housing policy formulation and financing activities tends to have been shifted to the private sector.