affordable land and housing in asia - International Union of Tenants

3. ADDRESSINGTHE CHALLENGE:AFFORDABLE LANDAND HOUSINGDELIVERY TRENDS ANDPATTERNS3.1 LANDLegal access to land is a strategic prerequisite forthe provision of adequate and affordable housingfor all. It is also a strategic prerequisite forpoverty reduction. Indeed, as paragraph 75 in theIstanbul Declaration notes: ‘the failure to adopt,at all levels, appropriate rural and urban landpolicies and land management practices remainsa primary cause of inequity and poverty’. 101Lack of access to land is also the cause ofincreased living costs; the proliferation ofslums and informal settlements; environmentaldegradation; and the increased vulnerability ofurban poor and women-headed households, andother marginalized and disadvantaged groups.Development of urban land inherently involvessignificant risks, which the public sector isusually not well placed to assume responsibilityfor. These risks are consequently borne in such away that public land is supplied where there is lessdemand for it; the housing that is built does notrespond to land use demands; and middle- andupper-income, rather than poor, households areinadvertently subsidised. All of these problemslead to higher land prices and correspondinglyhigher house prices—and reduced affordability. 1023.1.1 Land policy and legislativeframeworksIn many countries in Asia, national governmentdecides land policy and legislative frameworksgoverning planning and tenure, while localgovernment is concerned with the details of landmanagement and development. However, theprivate sector, which often has the most advancedtechnical knowledge of how to effectivelydeliver and develop land, can be instrumentalin implementation once frameworks are agreedto. The example of the Philippines UrbanDevelopment and Housing Act of 1992 in Box 1provides a good example of how this can workin practice.In addition to access to land, tenure securityand property rights are key factors influencinghousing adequacy and affordability. As theGlobal Land Tool Network (GLTN) advocates,land rights are best envisaged on a continuum,from de facto tenure located at the informal endof the continuum to registered freehold at themore formal end of the land rights continuum(Figure 20). 103 104 This continuum highlights thatland tenure involves an intricate set of formal andinformal rights that range from various rights ofuse to conditional or full rights of use and disposeof the land. 105Land tenure security is important because it hasbeen shown to facilitate the consolidation andimprovement of housing as the threat of eviction,and therefore lost investment, is lower whenpeople feel secure in their location. However,it is important to note that ‘registered freehold’should not be seen as the ideal or ‘preferred’Perceived tenureapproachesOccupancyAdversepossessionLeasesInformallandrightsFormallandrightsCustomaryAnti evictions Group tenure RegisteredfreeholdFigure 22: The continuum of land rights.32PART THREE