Since the mid-twentieth century virtually all governments, socialist and liberal alike, have perceived the need to intervene in urban housing markets in support of low-income households who are denied access to established (private sector) housing markets by their lack of financial resources.
Former DPU Director, Prof. Patrick Wakely returned to the DPU to launch his latest book ‘Housing in Developing Cities: Experience and Lessons’ that has recently been published by Routledge. The book begins from the above premise, and goes on to examine the range of strategic policy alternatives that have been employed by state housing agencies to this end. They range from public sector entry into the urban housing market through the direct construction of (‘conventional’) ‘public housing’ to the administration of (‘non-conventional’) programmes of social, technical and legislative supports that enable the production, maintenance and management of socially acceptable housing that is affordable to low-income urban households and communities. It concludes with a brief review of the direction that public housing policies have been taking at the start of the 21st Century and reflects on “where next”, making a distinction between ‘public housing’ and ‘social housing’ strategies and how they can be combined in a ‘partnership’ paradigm for the Twenty First Century.