This work deals with the problem of social housing in Brazil rethinking the role of social rent as an access mode to decent housing for lower income population. The main reference is the Social Rental Policy the municipality of Sao Paulo has been developing since the Government Marta Suplicy, which brings in its bulge influences of French and European previous experiences. The historical summary demonstrates that the topic of social housing has been present since social issues were assumed by the Brazilian State during the Government Getúlio Vargas, becoming part of a set of strategies aimed at the extension of protection to workers through social policies. For a long period renting was the most widely used mode for living in cities, going so far as to induce the expansion of the so called beneficiary population in the territory, and was always a fairly lucrative economic activity for real state market. The Tenancy Law of 1942 was the main initiative created by the Government GV to regulate the relationship between owners and tenants about location, which was previously in charge of the Civil Code. The strategy adopted by the Government to encourage individualized home ownership in peripheral areas consolidated the idea of housing as a commodity. Thereby, the fragmentary action of social policies eventually influenced housing programs, which began to favoring large-scale housing production as a solution to the problem of social housing. The methodology adopted was field interview with leaders of urban movements for housing and technicians who took part in the drafting of Social Leasing Program. The results reveal that organized social groups are seeking the right to housing in the central area (downtown) of the city of Sao Paulo, originating participatory processes and strengthening the defense and the recovery of their rights to the city and to decent housing. Accordingly, social lease requires improvements and greater investments by Governments in order to help the cities to fulfill their social function, especially when these central areas are being revitalized.