ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that a written national shelter policy, approved by the highest levels of government, is an important part of the overall national development effort. Botswana and Jamaica are two countries which have adopted national shelter policies of this sort, but few others come to mind. Developing country governments and international donors concerned with shelter needs must now seek new directions for shelter policies and programs within the global development context of the mid-1980s which shape and define the range of feasible choices to the end of this century. Shelter policies will need to respond to new guiding principles and renewed emphasis on some of the emerging concepts of the 1970s which have not yet been adopted fully by developing country governments. Based on shelter policy objectives that reflect the need for an inputs-oriented policy, it will be possible to discuss each of the various categories of shelter inputs which the policy seeks to influence.
