Riachuelo cleanup resettlement (Buenos Aires)
- 727 people were displaced or listed for relocation.Families the city relocated from the Riachuelo bank; 1,837 families had been counted there in 2011.
After a 2008 Supreme Court ruling made the cleanup of the Riachuelo basin binding, families living on the riverbank were to be rehoused. Twelve years after a 2010 framework agreement, 5,893 of 17,771 families had a completed housing solution.
Figure from an ACUMAR resolution published in the Boletín Oficial, 2022/2023.
Status As of the latest dated item in the record (2024): court supervision of the Riachuelo cleanup is listed as ended; 5,893 of 17,771 families had a completed housing solution.
- Families living on the Riachuelo bank — Relocated; 17,771 families were covered by the 2010 framework agreement, of whom 5,893 had a completed housing solution after 12 years. Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina
- Families in the new housing — Press reports recorded leaks, cracks and flooded courtyards.
What happened
In 2008 Argentina's Supreme Court issued the Mendoza ruling, which made the cleanup of the Riachuelo basin a binding obligation. According to Tiempo Argentino, the ruling set a two-year period for relocating the families living along the river.
A framework agreement in 2010 covered 17,771 families. An ACUMAR resolution published in the Boletín Oficial in 2022/2023 recorded that, in the 12 years since the agreement, a housing solution had been completed for 5,893 of them, or 33.2%.
The Buenos Aires city housing institute said the city had relocated 727 families from the Riachuelo bank; in 2011 it had counted 1,837 families there.
The audit body AGN found shortcomings in financial management and low spending in ACUMAR's Riachuelo cleanup, according to El Auditor. The same outlet reported that the Supreme Court had ended its supervision and had not provided for a compensation fund. A 2024 Chamber of Deputies document is listed under the heading 'Riachuelo: court supervision ended'.
- 2008Supreme Court Mendoza ruling makes basin cleanup a binding obligation; ruling sets a two-year period for relocation
- 2010Framework agreement covering 17,771 families
- 2011City counts 1,837 families on the Riachuelo bank
- 2015FARN report on the Supreme Court cleanup order, seven years after the Mendoza ruling
- 2023ACUMAR resolution (2022/2023): housing solution completed for 5,893 of 17,771 families (33.2%)
- 2024Chamber of Deputies document on the end of court supervision of the Riachuelo cleanup
How it looked
Shown
- Headline: 'It will take seven years to relocate the 17 thousand families living on the bank of the Riachuelo' (English rendering of the Spanish headline).Tiempo Argentino · Tiempo Argentino
Recorded
- Housing solution completed for 5,893 of the 17,771 families in the 2010 framework agreement (33.2%) after 12 years.
- The city relocated 727 families from the riverbank; 1,837 families had been counted in 2011.
- Press reports recorded leaks, cracks and flooded courtyards in the new housing.
- AGN found financial-management shortcomings and low spending in ACUMAR's cleanup; the Supreme Court ended its supervision and provided for no compensation fund.
- A 2024 Chamber of Deputies document is listed as recording that court supervision of the Riachuelo cleanup had ended.
- A 2015 report by the NGO FARN covers the Supreme Court cleanup order seven years after the Mendoza ruling.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- acumar (2022/2023): Published a resolution recording that housing solutions had been completed for 5,893 of 17,771 families in 12 years (33.2%). · Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2008Outcome not on recordMendoza ruling on the Riachuelo basin cleanupSupreme Court of Argentina · Administrative · →
The Supreme Court's 2008 Mendoza ruling made the cleanup of the basin a binding obligation and, according to Tiempo Argentino, set a two-year period for relocating the families on the riverbank. According to El Auditor, the Court later ended its supervision without providing for a compensation fund. Tiempo Argentino
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Court
- Unclear Mendoza ruling on the Riachuelo basin cleanup: outcome not on record.
Record
- None on record No compensation fund was provided for when the Supreme Court ended its supervision, according to El Auditor.
Did the harm stop?
The record contains no measure of the river's condition. It records that court supervision of the cleanup ended and that 33.2% of the families in the 2010 agreement had a completed housing solution after 12 years.
Who paid?
The record does not state who paid for the resettlement. It records that no compensation fund was provided for when court supervision ended.
Sources
Government and regulators
- ACUMAR resolution on housing solutions, Boletín OficialBoletín Oficial de la República Argentina · 2022/2023
- Camino de SirgaInstituto de Vivienda de la Ciudad (Buenos Aires) · n.d.
- Document 6727-D-2024 (listed as: Riachuelo, court supervision ended)Cámara de Diputados de la Nación · 2024
Press and investigations
- Tardarán siete años en relocalizar a las 17 mil familias que viven a la vera del RiachueloTiempo Argentino · n.d.
- RiachueloEl Auditor · n.d.