Two Mexican Housing Units developed by the Social Security Institute

Abstract

In the mid–20th century in Mexico there was a close link between collective housing production and the most important welfare state in the country. IMSS commenced its brief but active program of housing provision with its 1956 complex of almost 500 apartments, followed by its emblematic projects: the Santa Fe Unit (1957) and the Independence Unit (1960), with around 2,200 dwellings, each one placed among gardens. The agency’s apogee was ruled by a social justice mandate that contributed to having high quality living standards in its complexes.