The current conditions of inequality caused by the lack of access to housing in Mexico City are the result of a chain of processes unleashed by neoliberalism: deindustrialization, depopulation and poverty. Neoliberalism, as a development pathway undertaken by Mexico since the eighties of the twentieth century, provided a housing policy in Mexico City mainly driven from the market as the most efficient resources distributor in replacement of the State. The main tool to measure and map poverty and inequality due to homelessness in the 16 counties grouped in functional areas of Mexico City is the Index of Poverty induced by lack of Housing (PiH). The PiH is defined as the average income of the population in a given region and period, minus the average of the average values of rent, loan and payment of housing credit, divided by the value of the food and non – food baskets for the specific calculation year.
The analysis carried out from 2008 to 2015, shows that Mexico City core or Central City presents a double process of expelling the less economically favored population and attracting inhabitants with greater economic resources. In this relatively homogeneous nucleus, an average inhabitant has the possibility of covering up to 40 percent more, the cost of food and non – food baskets after satisfying the need for housing. Meanwhile, the first layer of counties that surround Central City or Adjacent City, tends to be an heterogeneous scale where the inequality induced by lack of housing is more contrasting. Finally, the second layer of the City or Southern counties, are in a deep situation of inequality in relation to the other City regions because its inhabitants can not acquire any additional percentage of the basic baskets once they satisfy their need for housing, increasing the probability of being in a situation of poverty and social vulnerability. This results can be useful for scholars and policy makers to understand and correct the uneven scalar and development pattern in Mexico City as a consequence of neoliberalism and a weak housing policy.
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