AN EQUILIBRIUM-BASED MIXED INTEGER LINEAR PROGRAMMING MODEL FOR THE SPATIAL ALLOCATION OF HOUSEHOLDS TO BANK BRANCHES

In social income transfer programs, low-income families periodically receive cash transfers from a government agency. Families receiving the benefit are allocated to bank branches or registered points, so that they can carry out financial transactions, receive cards, update their registration, etc. In this work, a mixed integer linear programming model is proposed with the objective of finding a solution for allocating families to bank branches that minimizes the movement of families to branches, but which allows balancing the spatial distribution of the allocation. The proposed model is a modification of the model for the generalized allocation problem. The application of the model is illustrated using real data for a case in the city of Fortaleza, Ceará. The allocations obtained through their spatial visualization are qualitatively discussed.  A computational study of the tradeoff between minimizing distances and the spatial balance of allocations is also carried out.