Toward an Urban Housing Strategy

As developing countries think about housing strategy, it's important to consider how to provide housing inexpensively, in locations that allow the poor to have access to economic opportunity, in a manner consistent with growth. While housing may not be particularly important to long-term macroeconomic performance, it's an important predictor of the business cycle, and it is fair to say that barriers to efficient provision of housing may well undermine economic growth. This essay examines the development of housing strategies for low and moderate income countries by framing a set of six questions, attempting to answer those questions, considering the policy implications of the answers, and developing strategies for dealing with those implications.

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