The challenge of low-income housing quality in Latin American cities: lessons from two decades of housing policies in Bogotá

Abstract

In the 1990s the public entities promoting low-cost housing projects in Colombia disappeared. Instead, the state went on to subsidize the acquisition of new homes built by the private sector with a price cap. In Bogotá, more than 20 years later, after an initial boom in low-cost housing construction by the private sector, production and quality of units has been declining while the number of informal units increase. This paper tries to find the reasons for these limited effects of the change in housing policies. For this, we reviewed quantitative data from different reports of the city and independent organizations over the last 20 years. We found that different governments had contradictory objectives for the sector, such as encouraging the production of formal and informal housing at the same time. In addition, they have set unattainable goals and are now more focused on projects that improve public space in informal settlements than on improving the housing supply.