Bringing new ideas to housing research

For nearly 20 years, the ‘Housing Subsidy 690’ programme has provided economic aid to those experiencing homelessness in the city of Buenos Aires. In practice, it bridges two precarious housing situations: living on the street and living in the city’s single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels. Although it was initially created as a housing programme that was intended to address the shortcomings of previous policies towards homelessness and solve a complex issue, nearly 20 years after its creation a certain inertia around the policy can be perceived, as well as fractures in its functioning. Drawing on interviews with beneficiaries and professionals involved in the administration of the subsidy, as well as a review of secondary data, this article describes the functioning of the programme and suggests that it constitutes a form of policy inertia that contributes to perpetuating housing instability and homelessness. We argue that receiving the subsidy does not resolve housing vulnerability, as it contributes to an intermittent cycle between these unstable housing conditions, thereby reproducing this vulnerability.