Brazilian urbanization and the implementation of the right to housing through the use of the Special Use Concession for Housing Purposes (CUEM) instrument

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reflect on the fundamental right to housing based on the judgments of the Court of Justice of Paraná (TJPR) and which deal with the use of the special use concession instrument for housing purposes (CUEM). We are following an accelerated and concentrated process of urbanization in Brazilian cities that denotes a disorderly occupation of spaces and this process has generated legal implications regarding the effectiveness of the fundamental right to housing. To achieve the proposed objective, this study adopts bibliographical research and analysis of TJPR judgments between the years 2002 and 2023. The data analysed suggest that the use of CUEM as an urban policy instrument is present in the decisions made by the TJPR. Therefore, the violation of the fundamental right to housing is prosecuted, with the court having the final say on whether or not the right to housing is enforced. It is concluded that the use of CUEM for housing purposes stands as an instrument of social justice and corroborates the implementation of the principle of human dignity and the fundamental right to housing.