Secure tenure

More than 80 percent of the world’s population does not have legal documentation of their property rights. Twenty percent struggle on a daily basis to stay in houses or on the land where they live. This lack of holding landed property, or insecure tenure, often lies at the heart of poverty housing. Insecure tenure deprives the poor of even the most basic physical, economic and psychological security.

Secure tenure is the ability to live in a place without fear of eviction. Secure tenure can increase economic growth, address inequalities and reduce poverty in developing countries. It can provide opportunities for investment and the accumulation of wealth. In some cases, it can encourage business development.

Secure tenure is about more than just economic assets. Secure tenure can also provide a source of identity, status and political power and serve as a basis for the pursuit and acquisition of other rights.

Learn more

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Read Habitat’s Shelter Report: Building a secure future through effective land policies
• Take a virtual field trip through the Capotillo slums of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Learn how a lack of secure tenure affects its residents.
• Listen to Bread for the World’s April 2009: A Place to Live breadcast about secure tenure.

Take action

• Download the Secure Tenure Toolkit. The toolkit is designed to both illustrate the urgent need for security of tenure around the world and to provide materials to help make the case to decision makers.
• Email your elected officials. Ask them to support affordable housing legislation to help the world’s poor.