Raquel Rolnik
1956
Brazilian architect and UN housing rapporteur who documented how housing stopped being shelter and became a financial asset.
As UN Special Rapporteur between 2008 and 2014, Rolnik travelled the world seeing the same pattern: investment funds buying housing stock, mortgages turned into financial products, and families evicted from homes that served as collateral for something else.
Her argument is that this is not a set of local runaway markets but a coordinated operation: public policies that promoted credit and ownership as the route of access, and in doing so handed housing to the financial system. From Brazil, she also documents the removals tied to mega-events.
On Raquel Rolnik in this archive
- Housing
Housing Rights and Social Justice
Housing rights, understood as fundamental human rights, are a central issue in the debate on social justice and…
Raquel Rolnik 3 min read - Housing
Housing Challenges in Contemporary Cities
Housing policy has been a central theme in the analysis of urban inequalities, particularly in contemporary cities,…
Raquel Rolnik 3 min read - Housing
Urban Warfare: How Financial Capital Is Destroying Our Cities
The book *“Urban Warfare: Housing Under the Empire of Finance”* (2019) by Raquel Rolnik examines how housing…
Raquel Rolnik 2 min read - Housing
Affordable Housing Challenges in Modern Cities
Access to **affordable housing** has become one of the greatest urban challenges in a context of growing inequality…
Raquel Rolnik 3 min read - Housing
Social Housing and Rent Regulation: Keys to Urban Affordability
Social housing and rent regulation are two key mechanisms in public policy aimed at ensuring affordability and…
Raquel Rolnik 2 min read - Housing
Raquel Rolnik: Defending the Right to Housing in the Era of Financialization
Raquel Rolnik has established herself as a leading voice in defending the right to housing and criticizing the…
Raquel Rolnik 2 min read
