Here’s what Rio aspires for the future of its athletes’ village after the 2016 games, as reported in UrbanLand:
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Unlike other Olympic cities, where facilities were built in areas that needed renovation, Rio’s Athletes Village will be constructed in Ilha Pura in Barra de Tijuca, and development will continue for more than 15 years after the Games conclude. The Olympic Village is expected to become luxury housing, with the more than 3,600 apartments used by the 18,000 athletes sold to buyers. The planned four-bedroom apartments in Ilha Pura will be 2,200 square feet (200 sq m), compared with 1,600 square feet (150 sq m) in Rio’s wealthy enclaves such as Ipanema and Leblon—a key selling point.
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The decision to build luxury condos for the wealthy has raised some eyebrows. “I think if the government is paying the bill, there should be some sort of subsidies for poor people to be able to buy apartments there,” says Murray. “Many feel the Olympic Games are being held not for the good of the sports and of the citizens, but for the interest of real estate speculation.”
Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and an expert on the economics of the Olympic Games, questions building luxury condos on the site. “[D]o they have enough high-end individuals who are able to buy a luxury condo?” asks Zimbalist. “Maybe the Athletes Village should have been turned into low- or middle-income housing for the people in the favelas.”
Why should the government be in the housing business ? This approach by Rio makes sense to me, similar to Vancouver which also sold most condos in the Olympic Village into the private market, although of course some were kept as rentals and affordable housing which is laudable for a subset of market housing. Perhaps Rio isn’t as socialistic as Vancouver is ?
“Perhaps Rio isn’t as socialistic as Vancouver is ?”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_protests_in_Brazil
The political situation in Rio de Janeiro specifically, and Brazil more broadly, can’t be easily understood using Vancouver’s or Canada’s paradigm. The framework, the mindset, is just not the same. Your labels, like “socialistic” (sic) do not mean what you intend them to mean.