In the course of the last thirty years, about 5.5 million Brazilian families have had access to their own shelters, thanks to the Housing Financial System - SFH, aimed especially at average income families. In the opinion of some governmental experts, such challenges can only be met successfully through joint endeavors between both governmental and social sectors. The commitment made by the Brazilian government to revert the role played by the State in the areas of housing and urban sanitation was defined through the creation, in 1995, of the Secretariat for Urban Policy - Sepurb, in the scope of the Ministry of Planning and Budgetary Issues.
All governmental programs aimed at the low-income population follow two lines of action.
The program s target audience comprises, mainly, low income families. The second line of action consists of directly meeting public demands through two different programs entitled Letter of Credit and Direct Credit to the Consumer. Through such programs, the Brazilian Government is not only seeking to promote citizenship, but also to contribute to the increase of housing production - better quality and lower cost. Indeed, through the Letter of Credit system the borrower has an important negotiation instrument in hand which, due to its nature, is bound to encourage competitiveness in the housing sector.