ABSTRACT
Under Leon South East (LSE), the local government bought land for housing and developed it with funding from the city link between Leon and Utrecht in the Netherlands. Housing quality in marginal urban zones is mainly low. Self-help housing in Nicaragua is very common, not because people are fond of building their own homes, but rather due to the high level of poverty in the country. In the 1980s the government initiated a plan to offer houses to low- and middle-income households. Local governments can execute tasks related to housing construction in order to sell or rent them to families belonging to certain social groups. In Nicaragua the model of the community organizations emerged in the struggle against the Somoza dictatorship of the 1970s. The Inter-American Association of Housing (ACENVI) designed a plan for urban renovation in District II of Managua, near the city's centre, with an initial phase called Parques de Santa Ana.
