ABSTRACT
The last few years have seen a major change in the attitude of governments towards irregular housing. Most now refer positively to the phenomenon of self-help construction; the process by which a majority of Latin Americans have traditionally built their own homes. In contrast to the conventional wisdom of the 1960s when governments were wont to demolish these ‘slums’ in a misguided effort to replace such housing with conventional forms of accommodation, the mood today favours the provision of sites with services and the upgrading of existing low-income settlements. The reasons for this change are well known and do not need repeating here. What is less clear is the extent to which this change in official thinking has actually affected housing practice and the quality of the accommodation of the urban poor.
