Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) Registration has recently opened in the state Mato Grosso do Sul, The government programme that is to be extended again in July allows Brazilian families on modest incomes to own their very own home thanks to subsidies from the state. The programme has been very successful in the North East that to property developers such as EcoHouse Group building quality homes for the programme.
Mato Grosso do Sul ( ‘Dense Forest of the South’) has only been a Brazilian State since the late 1970’s when it was split off from (the still existing) Mato Grosso. To this day the two similar names do still cause some confusion, especially with people from overseas or elsewhere in Brazil. At the time it was suggested that the new state should have a name that was clearly distinct; perhaps ‘Pantanal’ after the famous and wildlife-rich swamps and lowlands at the heart of the state. However, for good or ill ‘Mato Grosso do Sul’ has become the settled name.
The state is officially in the mid west part of the country but in practice can broadly be regarded as in the south. As well as sharing a border with Mato Grosso (the original). It is also next to the states of Sao Paolo and Parana. As well as this, of course it has international frontiers with Bolivia and Paraguay.
The new state has an area of about 350,000 sq Km. This is around the same size as Germany but of course the population of only 2.3 million is very much lower ! The natural beauty of the sparsely-inhabited state makes it very popular as a centre for tourism, both from within Brazil itself and from the wider world.
The capital and largest city is Campo Grande which has about 800,000 people. This is followed by Dourados with about a quarter as many and then the cities of Corumba and Tres Lagoas which both have populations of about one hundred thousand. These four metropolitan areas comprise about half of the total population of the state.
Agriculture is a much more important direct contributor to the GDP of Mato Grosso do Sul than for any other Brazilian state. In addition, this direct contribution of about a third is boosted further by the input of secondarily-related factors. The main farming activities focus on Cattle and other livestock, soya beans, sugar cane, wheat and corn (maize).
Industry contributes around 20% of the state’s GDP. Much of this is based, one way or another, on the important iron and manganese mining operations which have been a mainstay. In earlier colonial and imperial times, gold was also an important product and several ‘mini-goldrushes’ took place during the history of the region. Nowadays it is much less important. The general climate of the state (like its neighbours) tends to be tropical or subtropical.
In summary, Mato Grosso do Sul is a beautiful place to live and any Minha Casa Minha Vida homes that are built will be snapped up very quickly. Although, with EcoHouse Group currently building in both Rio Grand Do Sul in the South and Rio Grande Do Norte in the North East it’s hard to say whether it will be EcoHouse who decide to build in Mato Grosso do Sul.
You can keep track of EcoHouse Group current and future Minha Casa Minha Vida developments by visiting the companies Official Blog.
The Watchful Investor 
Yes its official Dilma has announced Minha Casa Minah Vida 3 is to launch in July, I’m hoping ecohouse group will expand its workforce so they can build more homes, quality wise their homes are some of the best social housing units around
I’m an EcoHouse Investor.