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Portrait of a Problem: The Housing Sector

In: Room for Development

Author

Listed:
  • César Patricio Bouillon
  • Nadin Medellín
  • Cynthia Boruchowicz

Abstract

Anyone who lives in or visits a Latin American or Caribbean city comes face to face with the housing problems that ail most neigh-borhoods in the region. There is nothing subtle or hidden about the ram-shackle dwellings that crowd most of the regions’ capitals. Upon arrival, visitors to Caracas are greeted by the spectacle of tens of thousands of dilapidated houses jam-packed precariously along the hillsides that line the main road between the airport and the city. Overcrowded conventillos (tenement houses) still abound in the historical downtown areas and neighborhoods of old capital cities such as Bogota and Buenos Aires. In a region notorious for its high levels of income inequality, the contrast between the haves and the have-nots is nowhere more striking than in the housing sector. Poor inhabitants of favelas (Brazilian slums) in Rio de Janeiro share the same view of Ipanema Beach with very wealthy households living lavishly in some of the most expensive real estate on the planet. In Lima, households living in jerry-built shacks devoid of running water or toilets watch luxury cars speed by to modern mansions in the exclusive sector of La Molina or to beach houses south of the Peruvian capital.

Suggested Citation

  • César Patricio Bouillon & Nadin Medellín & Cynthia Boruchowicz, 2012. "Portrait of a Problem: The Housing Sector," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: César Patricio Bouillon (ed.), Room for Development, chapter 2, pages 23-49, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-03146-4_3
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137031464_3
    as

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