ABSTRACT
Residential property in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean (CAMEC) unfolds at a complex crossing of policy framework, economic cycles and social pressure. At the policy level, planning regulations as well as social housing programmes have a direct effect on residential markets, as both factors influence the demand and supply of units. This chapter provides a brief description of the development process for housing, considering the following underlying factors: housing needs in CAMEC; housing programmes targeting the quantitative deficit; housing programmes targeting the qualitative deficit; private sector housing development in the context of the planning system. It presents an analysis of how all these factors interact and concludes by questioning the lack of rental options to solve social housing problems. CAMEC countries have systematically failed in designing and implementing corrective policies to address the problem, and this is mainly because of the prevalence of two main evils: gated communities and weak municipal authorities.
