Abstract

The Chilean housing policy, which anticipated the enabling approach widely advocated by international institutions in the 1990s, has succeeded in improving housing conditions in the country. The analysis of this experience indicates that this success only partially comes from reforms in the housing sector, and that its financial mechanisms are the result of reforms in capital markets and a stable macroeconomic environment. Lessons from this experience include the need for an integrated approach to reform including housing production and financing mechanisms and the full consideration and prevention of the urban impacts of housing policies that succeed in increasing housing production.