Current solutions to the housing problem in Latin America

Abstract

This work analyzes the magnitude and characteristics of the housing problem in Latin America and, particularly, in Venezuela, establishing the general guidelines which should characterize solutions in those countries. It describes housing Solutions that are being implemented: those completed, those that can be extended, parceling put and housing estates for the people, housing on slopes, houses which allow for growth, action in stable neighborhoods, credit facilities for the people, an analysis of personal construction or self-administration, programs for rural housing, criteria for urban redevelopment, solutions for emergencies, research into housing material, concluding with orientations towards the future. These reflections are fundamentally derived from experience accumulated by the author, who reached the position of Head of the maximum body of Vivienda Popular {Housing for the People): the «Instituto Nacional de la Vivienda» — INAVI {the National Institute of Housing) in Venezuela in 1979 and 1980. It is appropriate to stress the importance which this work gives to the exchange of experience among different Latin American countries with the purpose of establishing typologies for programmes which may help to solve the habitation problem for their inhabitants.