Eleven percent of Argentina’s population live in 6,467 low-income neighbourhoods which lack formal access to basic utilities and proper housing, according to a new study.
The report, by NGOs Fundar and Techo, says that existing socio-economic vulnerabilities are reproducing structural poverty, urban exclusion and socio-environmental vulnerability, which go hand in hand with infrastructure deficit, property ownership precariousness and state abandonment.
The report argues that since 2024, the urban integration policies that had accompanied the governments of different persuasions since the early 20th century have been disarticulated and defunded.
While an annual investment of US$2.25 billion per 12 years is necessary to close the infrastructure gap, the report claims, so far in 2025 merely US$4.2 million have been invested in socio-urban integration – just 0.2 percent of what they believe is required.
Data from the ReNaBap (Registro Nacional de Barrios Populares) registry confirms the scale of the infrastructure deficit, with a lack of formal connection to basic utilities. Ninety-two percent of working-class neighbourhoods have no access to water, while 98 percent have no access to the natural gas grid. This obliges families to depend on gas tanks or such risky sources as wood and coal, with costs which may be up to 2.5 times higher, the report notes.
A look at sanitation reveals a significant social and environmental gap: 97 percent of working-class neighbourhoods have no sewers. Across 4,263 neighbourhoods, the disposal of effluent is by septic tanks or holes, which compromises the soil and underground water. As for electricity, 66 percent of dwellings use irregular or informal electric connections. In addition, 70 percent of neighbourhoods are exposed to at least one environmental risk factor, such as outdoor landfills or flooding.
The report holds that Argentina’s socio-urban integration policies achieved institutional consolidation between 2016 and 2023 but experienced a significant setback thereafter. Since 2024, such policies has been increasingly defunded and disarticulated. Progress towards integration is compromised by the structural funding deficit, the report’s authors warn.
The estimated investment needed to solve the infrastructure gap in all 6,467 neighbourhoods is over US$27 billion. In order to complete urbanisation within 12 years, the required annual investment is US$2.25 billion. This figure contrasts steeply with recent funding – so far in 2025, the expenditure in socio-urban integration programmes totals a mere US$4.2 million, accounting for only 0.2 percent of the required annual investment.
Ownership security is a core challenge for social and urban integration. More than 99 percent of working-class neighbourhoods face insecurity in terms of property ownership. This legal precariousness hinders public and private investment in infrastructure and exposes dwellers to eviction risks.
However, traditional regularisation process by delivering property deeds is insufficient to guarantee integration given the scale of the problem. The Family Housing Certificate (CVF in Spanish), created in 2017, offers an alternative tool. It attests to possession and domicile and has the purpose of allowing a formal connection to public utilities.
The CVF is considered a starting-point to increase ownership security. Since its creation, over 800,000 certificates have been issued, but this instrument has also been halted.
All 6,467 working-class neighbourhoods have sharp territorial heterogeneity. Even though the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Misiones, Chaco and Buenos Aires City contain over 70 percent of the affected population, 70 percent of villas are inhabited by fewer than 150 families.
Regardless of state assistance and aid, the scale of the required investment pushes for the exploration of sustainable financing strategies. The report notes that one of the options being considered is capital market investment, by issuing Debt Securities (VRDs in Spanish). The goals of socio-urban integration, such as the provision of basic infrastructure and the positive impact in access to drinking water and sanitation, coincide with the categories to be included as social bonds.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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