Technical Assistance, Social Practices, and Resilience in Social Housing: An Overview of the Current Scientific Literature

The Social Housing units in the “Minha Casa Minha Vida Program” (PMCMV), launched in 2009, aimed to reduce the housing deficit in Brazil. However, they resulted in standardized units of low architectural quality, which were disconnected from the diverse Brazilian contexts. These housing units exhibit low resilience and lack the technical assistance required for renovations, leading residents to undertake self-built modifications. Such interventions, often inadequate, negatively impact environmental comfort and structural safety. The Federal Law on Technical Assistance for Social Housing (TASH) No. 11.888 advanced the provision of technical assistance but still faces challenges regarding its implementation due to significant demand. This article is part of a master’s research project linked to the [CASA RESILIENTE] initiative of the [MORA] Research Group on Housing and, aims to identify and analyze relevant studies, contributing to the analysis and improvement of the pilot platform “[REFORMA] na palma da mão” (“Handy Home Improvements”). The methodology includes a literature review of TASH, resilience in the built environment, social practices in Social Housing (SH), and post-occupancy evaluation (POE), as well as a study of artifacts similar to the proposed platform. The results highlight the importance of POE, the urgency of implementing TASH, and the need to deepen studies on social practices in SH to provide guidelines for more resilient renovations.