Addressing the Urban Housing Problem: Does Subsidizing Homeownership Best Meet the Housing Needs of Urban Squatter Households?

Urban housing programs in the Philippines have narrowly focused on maximizing the output of new houses and sites for sale at below market prices, an approach that presumes that subsidizing homeownership is the best way to meet the housing needs of urban squatter households. By estimating housing choice in an urban setting and measuring the responses of squatter households to changes in housing costs and different housing policies, this paper demonstrates otherwise. © 2011 The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.