Decent housing is not just an apartment or a comfortable home for a family. There must be many other rights guaranteed in the vicinity of the residence so that the family can reside there and live well. The Lula and Dilma governments have always believed this and improved the My House, My Life project each year to better serve low-income populations. For PT governments, decent housing means access to public facilities and services in addition to quality urban infrastructure, with sidewalks, sewer systems, potable water and electricity. These components are indispensable to the implementation of the projects and an important consideration for state and local governments.

For many years in Brazil, housing projects financed with public money were truly concrete boxes. To live in such apartments was synonymous with discomfort, lack of privacy and tribulations.

Moreover, they were completely homogeneous, and residents were unable to personalize their own spaces with the special imprint each of us want to put on the place where we live. Today, most of the My House, My Life projects demonstrate this concern. Hence, there are gardens, backyards, terraces and balconies. They are environments where families grow in their own particular way and that, deep down, help turn the house into a home.