ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a wide variety of development processes which all share two broad characteristics. Housing associations in Britain are thought to have their origins in the 1840s – although one member association in the National Federation of Housing Associations was founded in 1235 and Church-owned accommodation for the old and needy in the form of almshouses goes back much further than this. Self-help housing falls in the voluntary housing sector since it is neither statutorily required nor developed for profit. The tenants have planted some trees and taken good care of the immediate surroundings and it is clear that if people are placed in a good environment they take care to keep it good. In all the scheme provides well-designed, well-managed and appropriate housing for a group who would otherwise be either street homeless or housed in expensive and inappropriate emergency accommodation.
