Skip to main content
Navigate back to homepage
Open search bar.
Open main navigation menu

Main navigation

  • Study
    UCL Portico statue
    Study at UCL

    Being a student at UCL is about so much more than just acquiring knowledge. Studying here gives you the opportunity to realise your potential as an individual, and the skills and tools to thrive.

    • Undergraduate courses
    • Graduate courses
    • Short courses
    • Study abroad
    • Centre for Languages & International Education
  • Research
    Tree-of-Life-MehmetDavrandi-UCL-EastmanDentalInstitute-042_2017-18-800x500-withborder (1)
    Research at UCL

    Find out more about what makes UCL research world-leading, how to access UCL expertise, and teams in the Office of the Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation and Global Engagement).

    • Engage with us
    • Explore our Research
    • Initiatives and networks
    • Research news
  • Engage
    UCL Print room
    Engage with UCL

    Discover the many ways you can connect with UCL, and how we work with industry, government and not-for-profit organisations to tackle tough challenges.

    • Alumni
    • Business partnerships and collaboration
    • Global engagement
    • News and Media relations
    • Public Policy
    • Schools and priority groups
    • Visit us
  • About
    UCL welcome quad
    About UCL

    Founded in 1826 in the heart of London, UCL is London's leading multidisciplinary university, with more than 16,000 staff and 50,000 students from 150 different countries.

    • Who we are
    • Faculties
    • Governance
    • President and Provost
    • Strategy
  • Active parent page: The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
    • Study
    • Active parent page: Research
    • Our schools and institutes
    • People
    • Ideas
    • Engage
    • News and Events
    • About

DPU Working Paper - No. 26

The Commodification of Self-Help Housing and State Intervention

Breadcrumb trail

  • The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment
  • Research

Faculty menu

  • Research projects
  • Current page: Research publications
  • REF 2021
  • Ethics in the built environment
  • Impact at The Bartlett
  • UCL Royal Academy of Engineering, Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Design
  • The Building Envelope Research Network
  • UCL Circularity Hub

Author: Ronaldo Ramirez, Jorge Fiori Hans Harms and Kosta Mathey

Publication Date: 1991

It is generally acknowledged today that millions of citizens in the developing countries produce, exchange and consume their housing apparently independent of, or at varied distances from, market relations or state intervention. In this paper we will examine the individual experiences of a few families living in the shanty towns of Caracas the barrios in 1985 to show how that process of housing production is, at the same time, a slow process of housing commodification. It will be argued that although the population involved in it may benefit considerably from its development, widespread poverty makes commodification impossible, or extremely difficult to achieve, without the state helping significantly to complete the use value of housing.

The outcome of such an apparently contradictory process is dependent upon the form of housing policy adopted by the state and on the type of relationships mutually established between the state and the shanty town dwellers. Whether or not there is a role for the state in the field of low cost housing once it is totally commodified is a matter of contention not directly discussed in this paper. However, if the indispensable role played by the state in the completion of housing commodification disappears when this is achieved, then the continuation of state involvement in lowcost housing will need to be fully redefined.

Download this paper

UCL footer

Visit

  • Bloomsbury Theatre and Studio
  • Library, Museums and Collections
  • UCL Maps
  • UCL Shop
  • Contact UCL

Students

  • Accommodation
  • Current Students
  • Moodle
  • Students' Union

Staff

  • Inside UCL
  • Staff Intranet
  • Work at UCL
  • Human Resources

UCL social media menu

  • Link to Soundcloud
  • Link to Flickr
  • Link to TikTok
  • Link to Youtube
  • Link to Instagram
  • Link to Facebook
  • Link to Twitter

University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7679 2000

© 2025 UCL

Essential

  • Disclaimer
  • Freedom of Information
  • Accessibility
  • Cookies
  • Privacy
  • Slavery statement
  • Log in