ABSTRACT
Regularization projects and programmes in the 1990s have made significant progress in responding to the demand from the poor for land and housing, in a context of public and private formal sector failings (Urban Management Programme, 1995a; UNCHS, 1996a). Previous government attitudes and responses to the expansion of irregular settlements were inadequate, based mainly – depending on the cities – on a combination of repressive options and laissez-faire policies. Although the provision of serviced land and self-help practices have helped to curb the pressure of housing demands, they have by no means met the needs of low-income populations. Conventional tenure regularization policies, as implemented in many developing cities over the last decade, have proved to constitute a better response to the needs of the urban poor. These policies rely on two sets of interrelated measures: on the one hand, the de jure recognition of de facto occupancies, and on the other, the provision of services to the settlements concerned.
