Abstract
This article focuses on the shelter strategies of low-income households in Bamako, Mali and La Paz, Bolivia. The structure of the land and housing markets conditions the range of shelter alternatives available to the poor in both cities. Land and housing markets in La Paz show more dynamism than Bamako's, where housing turnover is rare, and filtering processes are slow. Bamako's land and housing markets are characterized by a poor record of shelter improvement; lower rates of mobility to new housing opportunities on the periphery; and more constrained access to home ownership than in La Paz. It is argued that shelter strategies are not determined by structural constraints only. Within the scope of available options, the poor themselves decide what particular alternative will be employed to improve shelter conditions of the household. City-born residents prove to be more fortunate than migrants in securing appropriate shelter.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1007-1028 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | World Development |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 8 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Aug 1991 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:It is obvious, however, that most national shelter programs have been no more than partial palliatives for the urban lower classes and that the beneficiaries of those programs represent only a very small proportion of the total number of people in need of housing (Cohen, 1988, p. 114). This is certainly the case in Mall and in Bolivia, countries ranking among the poorest in their respective regions, whose settlement upgrading and sites-and-services schemes in the principal cities Bamako and La Paz have never succeeded in moving beyond the pilot project phase. Since government policies have failed to generate a sufficient supply --let alone a sufficiently differentiated supply --of housing to meet the demands of increasing numbers of low-income households, the mass of population in both of our research cities has to secure adequate shelter by its own effort. Unless major changes in urban planning, taxation policies, and land markets are carried out, no shelter policy is likely to alter this reality in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is most appropriate to consider w~rious shelter *The authors are grateful to The Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOT-RO) for funding research on which this paper is based. The constructive comments of two anonymous referees, which have improved the quality of this paper considerably, are also greatly appreciated.
Funding
It is obvious, however, that most national shelter programs have been no more than partial palliatives for the urban lower classes and that the beneficiaries of those programs represent only a very small proportion of the total number of people in need of housing (Cohen, 1988, p. 114). This is certainly the case in Mall and in Bolivia, countries ranking among the poorest in their respective regions, whose settlement upgrading and sites-and-services schemes in the principal cities Bamako and La Paz have never succeeded in moving beyond the pilot project phase. Since government policies have failed to generate a sufficient supply --let alone a sufficiently differentiated supply --of housing to meet the demands of increasing numbers of low-income households, the mass of population in both of our research cities has to secure adequate shelter by its own effort. Unless major changes in urban planning, taxation policies, and land markets are carried out, no shelter policy is likely to alter this reality in the foreseeable future. Therefore, it is most appropriate to consider w~rious shelter *The authors are grateful to The Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOT-RO) for funding research on which this paper is based. The constructive comments of two anonymous referees, which have improved the quality of this paper considerably, are also greatly appreciated.
