ABSTRACT
Private formal housing is financed by a mortgage system that is well developed by Latin American standards but which struggles to reach less affluent households. Over and above the problems facing the subsidy programme, the government was confronted by a major crisis in the wider housing finance system. National governments had long understood how building homes could contribute to Colombia's economic growth and in 1970 housing became the key plank in the 'Four Strategies' plan of President Misael Pastrana Borrero. Housing policy was reformed along neoliberal lines with the aim of suppressing the specialised housing banks and transforming the Unidad de Poder Adquisitivo Constante (UPAC) system. The Samper government considered the shortage of urban land to be a major barrier to housing the poor and gave priority to urban reform. In 1997, Congress approved Law, which built on its 1989 predecessor and required municipalities to create Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial (POTs) which would establish long-term goals for urban development.
