Solving the Housing Crisis Half-a-House at a Time: Incremental Housing as a Means to Fulfilling the Human Right to Housing

Authors

Vincent Halloran

Abstract

This student note will attempt to answer two broad questions: 1) Does Chile’s incremental housing model fulfill an international human right to housing?; and 2) Can incremental housing be implemented in a U.S. jurisdiction? Incremental housing is a unique social housing model developed by Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, which consists of building just half-a-house, thus allowing the recipients to maximize limited housing subsidies through participatory improvements to ultimately gain transferable wealth through credit. While incremental housing does not offer a panacea in application in Chile, the model represents an important step toward realizing a right to housing in a deeply unequal environment. Incremental housing is not only implementable in a U.S. jurisdiction, but also offers an innovative model to make social housing viable.

Recommended Citation

Vincent Halloran, Solving the Housing Crisis Half-a-House at a Time: Incremental Housing as a Means to Fulfilling the Human Right to Housing, 52 U. MIA Inter-Am. L. Rev. 95 (2021)
Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umialr/vol52/iss1/6