Aqui hay mucha demanda : a case study of renting in Lima's Northern Cone

This thesis contributes to the growing literature on low-income renting and affordable housing in Latin America. Through a case study of Independencia – a consolidated community in Lima’s northern cone – I examine the socio-economic foundations and potential implications of self-help renting in lives of participants. Low-income renting has a long history in Lima, but has largely operated outside of State intervention. While these policy decisions were the result of contextually specific political and economic pressures, they seem also to be a symptom of the changes in influential social and economic theories informing academic thinking on the region and their contributions to bias in the housing policies of many Latin American countries. In addition to several policy considerations based on research in Lima, some general considerations for future renting research are offered.