Shelter

Following a brief description of past A.I.D. shelter assistance efforts, the paper provides an introduction to the shelter issue with emphasis on the enormous scale of the problem and the importance of both the formal and the informal sector in meeting developing country housing needs. Next, typical problems to be confronted in developing specific shelter strategies are discussed, including: difficult economic conditions, a politically charged shelter approach, limited access to urban land and secure tenure, inappropriate physical development standards, limited institutional capacity, failure to maximize private savings, an inappropriate interest rate policy, excessive subsidies, and inadequate national housing policies. Succeeding sections outline A.I.D."s shelter objectives, instruments to be used in implementing shelter programs, the types of shelter programs appropriate for A.I.D. support, criteria for determining a country"s suitability for shelter loans, and guidelines for allocating shelter sector resources within a recipient country. Appended are notes on implementing Housing Guaranty projects.