Organized self-help housing

There is an urgent need to improve the lives of 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. The Habitat Agenda has identified self-help housing among other enabling housing strategies. This paper focuses on mapping organizations and different types of organized self-help housing (OSHH) projects since the year 2000 to analyze important lessons from practice.

An international survey was implemented to selected housing experts and practitioners from developing countries, and qualitative data analysis was conducted Results show that dweller control over the OSHH process contributes to achieving better quality settlements and homes whilst empowering the urban poor. This process also helps to improve community skills and local construction techniques.

Asian CBOs and NGOs have implemented OSHH for slum upgrading and reconstruction after natural disasters. Organized self-help housing has been combined with other support tools such as microcredit or organized savings, production of construction materials, training, and community capacity building. OSHH housing has the potential to foster the development of social, technical, and financial sustainability in human settlements in developing regions.

Also Read: The face of urban poverty: Explaining the prevalence of slums in developing countries