ABSTRACT
This chapter explores housing policies and programmes in Sri Lanka in a chronological order. The legislative authority and urban land and planning policies in Sri Lanka can be traced to colonial laws and ordinances. The key achievements of the housing programmes in Sri Lanka were decentralisation, institutionalising of the participatory process, formalising of the community action plans (CAPs) methodology, and the introduction and development of community contracting as a procurement system. Rural and urban Housing Options and Loan Packages were prepared, setting the loan limits and conditions for each option. In 1978, the Urban Development Authority (UDA) developed Slums and Shanty Improvement Programme for provision of basic common amenities in Colombo and other towns. The government has enabled housing access to people having leasehold titles, illegal tenure and user permits/enumeration cards that are used as 'tenure entitlement certificates' and evidence of stay in Colombo. The Hundred Thousand Houses Programme marked a shift to a state-dominated provider approach for public housing.
