This guide describes several ways of addressing low-income housing at the programme and project level. It focuses on well-tried methods of improving the housing and living environments of people living in slums and squatter settlements, and providing adequate housing for future generations of urban poor. The first part presents concepts essential to understanding low-income housing, and explores the reasons behind the serious lack of decent, affordable housing — and hence the problem of urban slums. Key approaches to address the housing needs of the urban poor are outlined next, by examining alternative strategies for what to do about existing slums and how to avoid future slums through the production of new housing. Finally, the guide examines the main considerations needed to address the improvement of slums and production of adequate and affordable low-income housing on a city-wide scale. This guide is not aimed at specialists, but instead aims to help build the capacities of national and local government officials and policy makers who need to quickly enhance their understanding of low-income housing issues.
Resource collections
- UN Habitat - Urban Response Collection
- Urban Response - Urban Crisis Preparedness and Risk Reduction
- Urban Response Collection - Community Engagement and Social Cohesion
- Urban Response Collection - Economic Recovery
- Urban Response Collection - Environment and Climate Change
- Urban Response Collection - Housing, Land and Property
- Urban Response Collection - Urban Crisis Response, Recovery and Reconstruction
- Urban Response Collection - Urban Resilience
