Housing and shelter
Poor families in developing countries are forced to improvise with their housing, either because building materials are too costly or - in areas vulnerable to natural hazards such as floods and landslides - good building land is too expensive.
With suitable affordable land becoming scarcer, especially in urban areas, poor people find it increasingly difficult to find the resources to build houses of their own or to buy or rent houses built by professionals. Sometimes, they are prevented quite simply by archaic, unsympathetic local building codes and regulations that either prohibit or do not recognise the legality of constructions built using the sort of technology that poor people could afford. For the last 25 years, Practical Action's Shelter Programme has been developing ways to help communities develop their own solutions to these housing problems.
Our approach is to help poor communities to make the best use of their own labour and to use locally produced building materials and construction techniques that they can afford and manage themselves. The building of simple homes is not just about improving the condition of shelter for the poor - it can become a catalyst for the further development of communities by creating local jobs, materials and infrastructure that benefit everyone.
Practical Action's action research work in housing has the following objectives:
- to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of low-income housing
- to increase the active participation of local communities, and improve the terms of their participation, in the markets for building materials, construction and shelter
- to reduce the policy, legal and institutional constraints faced by poor men and women seeking access to shelter
- to strengthen and empower partnerships and alliances for pro-poor changes to housing access.
Our approach to improved housing is based on the following principles:
Increasing technology choice to reduce vulnerability, improve health and make housing more affordable
Housing is an opportunity for local skills development and income generation
Providing opportunities for small and medium scale enterprises in building materials production
Removing policy and process constraints and introducing more appropriate standards and regulations
Mobilising community participation in needs assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of activities.
Practical Action works with community groups, small-scale material producers, NGOs and government departments on shelter programmes in Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Peru.
