ABSTRACT
In developing countries, there is a cogent case for arguing that housing shortages are structurally important in homelessness. Over the last several decades, especially since the flood of independences from colonial rule during the first 20 post-Second World War years, the demand for housing in urban areas has outstripped formal supply in most developing countries. As a result of the shortfall in supply, many households have resorted to informal settlements for their accommodation. In calculations of housing stock and its corollary, housing need, such informal housing is often discounted. Thus, in some official eyes, all inhabitants of informal housing are homeless. So important is the lack of housing in relation to homelessness in developing countries that we will devote some time to the housing context – assessing the scale of the shortfalls in supply, aspects of the housing policy context which have allowed it to occur and the incongruence between housing supplied and the ability of people to afford it.
