Ten Myths Undermining Latin American Housing Policy

Housing policy in Latin America cannot be regarded as having been a huge success. Official figures show that the housing deficit is rising in most countries. Of course, solving the housing problem is difficult and complicated further by rapid urban growth and too much poverty. Nonetheless, there are many failings in current housing policy and the current paper identifies ten myths that have infiltrated the housing policy lexicon. This paper is an invitation to the region's governments to consider whether any or all of the identified myths persist within their own policies and whether those myths are as damaging as will be suggested here.