Rental Housing - UN-Habitat

One reason is that the cost of land is rising, another that the supply of publicland is exhausted. Perhaps a further reason is that the nature of democraticgovernment has changed. In Argentina, it is argued that:“most politicians, within a process of increased democratic control,seem to find it increasingly difficult to support invasions and illegalsubdivisions. All this evidence points out that land access for thepoor has started to be restricted in Resistencia.” 87That conclusion is likely to prove wrong where shifts in public opinionconvince governments that they need to use any weapon at hand to win anelection or improve their popular rating. As de Souza points out:“At the time the case studies were being conducted, the municipalityof Recife had adopted a policy to prevent any new invasion on publicland, leaving the private sector to deal with invaders when appropriate.But such a procedure is part of a variable policy which isapplied differentially according to electoral needs and politicalinterests.” 88What is certain is that where land is cheap or freely available, rates ofownership will continue to rise. But, where access to land becomes moredifficult for the poor, and especially during a period of economic recession, therate of renting and sharing is bound to rise. 89 The political economy of urbanland is absolutely critical in determining the incidence of homeownership. Asthe rest of the report will elaborate: in housing, people do not always get whatthey want, and in any case, what they want is largely determined by what theycan get. A desire for ownership is not built into people’s DNA.Chapter I: Introduction 21