“Unhealthy houses, incorrect neighbors”: The housing problem of the police force and a pioneering social policy in Chile

Abstract

The Carabineros de Chile, a militarized police force that was created in 1927 and closely related to the Chilean army, became an important beneficiary of Chilean social housing legislation. In Latin America, housing had emerged as a new field of state intervention in the early twentieth century to address the manyfold problems connected to the lack of affordable and hygienic living quarters. Placed at the intersection of policy fields such as health and old age provision, housing furthermore claimed special attention because of its importance for public order. The Republic of Chile became a pioneer in social housing when it passed its first groundbreaking law in 1906 to address issues of public health and to deal with the protests of workers. However, this piece of legislation did little to substan- tially improve the housing conditions of the workers and the urban poor it supposedly had been drafted for. In the years to come, additional housing laws were put into place but equally failed to solve the national housing crisis.

This contribution studies the development of social housing in Chile until the 1940s. It as- sesses the importance of the philanthropic beginnings of social housing in this country and examines the impact of European social housing ideas and forums of debate such as congresses on Chilean developments. The Carabineros de Chile serve as a case study of a group which not only made good use of social housing laws but also aspired to become an actor in the field of social policy in its own right. The meaningful and often overlooked connections between social policy and disciplining thus become visible.