Urban housing: The need for public sector intervention and international cooperation

Abstract

Government intervention in low-income urban housing has been undergoing a process of change characterized by the withdrawal of public sector agencies from the construction and management of completed dwellings. This is being replaced by policies and programmes for the provision of supports (decentralization, devolution, deregulation, privatization) that ‘enable’ individuals, urban communities and the private sector to play a more active role in the production of housing. Principal amongst these supports are access to land and infrastructure for the construction of new housing in sites and services projects and technical, social and legal assistance in the upgrading of existing urban slums and squatter areas. Support policies and programmes for public intervention in the production and maintenance of urban housing can mitigate some of the short-term effects of poverty and social deprivation that result from macroeconomic structural adjustment programmes, without undermining the process of adjustment itself. However, the process of institutional change necessary to implement such policies is often radical and complex and requires assistance. This should constitute the base of international aid and technical assistance.