Support Measures to Promote Rental Housing for Low Income Group

THIS IS ONE of the most detailed overviews available on the scale and nature of rental housing in the South and the possibilities for governments and other institutions to encourage and support rental housing. It complements Rental Housing, a report published by UNCHS (Habitat) in 1990 that has a series of papers on different aspects of rental housing, including several detailed case studies of particular cities. This book is divided into an introductory overview followed by eight chapters. The overview describes the importance of rental housing and of sharing (where no payment is made to the house owner) in most cities in the South and argues that governments should give more attention to rental housing. In many cities, most of the population find housing through renting and even in cities where a high proportion of the population are owner-occupiers, it is still common for a large number of young families and many older and most low-income households to be unable to afford their own home. The first chapter considers who are the owners and tenants of rental housing and what characteristics they do or do not have in common and the housing choices open to individuals or households who do not want to own a dwelling (or cannot afford to do so). It also highlights how female-headed households are more likely to be tenants or sharers than owners in many cities and the reasons for this. Chapter II discusses the effects of government policies and legislation on rental housing, including rent control and planning and zoning regulations. Chapter III discusses the extent to which investment in rental housing is profitable and how governments can or do influence this, and presents a rationale for small-scale landlords. Subsequent chapters discuss different aspects of government support and policy for rental housing - support for formal sector rental housing and for informal sector housing construction, the nature of government involvement in landlord- tenant relations, future action (that includes the role of employers, community organizations, NGOs and cooperatives) and conclusions. There is also a substantial bibliography, although, sadly, this omits many references given in the text.