At the urban margins, material precariousness and spatial segregation shape the lives of the poorest. Some studies highlight the role of the neoliberal state in producing these problems. This qualitative investigation carried out in the outskirts of Santiago de Chile analyzes the narratives and practices that shape neoliberal policies in the field of housing and education. The results show that public policies mobilize formal and informal territorial practices that, in an ambivalent way, manage poverty through an assistance-based approach and at the same time seek to produce subjects responsible for their own development and well-being.