MEXICO CITY EXPROPRIATES PROPERTIES, PROPOSES NEW PUBLIC LAND BANK

This article by Ángel Bolaños Sánchez y De la Redacción appeared in the May 14th, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier leftist daily newspaper.

Mexico City. Faced with a shortage of more than 800,000 housing units in the city, and with the aim of preventing land from being captured for real estate speculation, Morena presented a reform initiative to the Housing Law in the capital’s Congress to create a public land bank responsible for identifying, acquiring, and managing the reserve of urban, developable land suitable for housing.

It also proposes implementing mechanisms such as a new tax meant to capture urban capital gains, which would allow the government to recover a portion of the increase in land value generated by public investments to reinvest in infrastructure, social housing, and urban amenities. These mechanisms currently end up in private hands, deepening territorial inequalities and weakening public finances.

In its assessment, the initiative warns that the housing shortage affects some 2.5 million people living in overcrowded conditions, with structural instability and deficient public services, while an estimated 50,000 homes in irregular human settlements are highly vulnerable to environmental and social impact.

The initiative, drafted by Representative Valentina Batres and signed by Representatives Víctor Varela López and Alberto Martínez Urincho, among others, expressly establishes as priorities the social use of land, access to adequate housing, territorial equity, and the distribution of urban wealth. It proposes the creation of a public rental housing stock, with properties built, acquired, or managed by the government for long-term social housing schemes.

Mexico City Government Expropriates Five Properties in Three Municipalities

Meanwhile, the Mexico City government issued five decrees expropriating various properties in the municipalities of Cuauhtémoc, Miguel Hidalgo, and Azcapotzalco to build social housing, where buildings currently have structural damage.

The documents, published in the Official Gazette, indicate that these buildings are currently inhabited and their occupants have requested that the Housing Institute build decent, safe, and dignified housing there.

The properties are located at 45 Manuel José Othón Street and 46 Bolívar Street in the Obrera neighborhood, and at 34 Trébol Street in the Santa María La Ribera neighborhood, in Cuauhtémoc; 126 Felipe Carrillo Puerto Street in the Anáhuac I neighborhood, in Miguel Hidalgo; and 63 5 de Febrero Street in the Nextengo neighborhood, in Azcapotzalco.

The expropriation is based on the public utility for the creation or improvement of population centers, as set forth in Articles 1 and 20 of the Mexico City Expropriation Law.