Design of Housing for the Worlds Poor - Capstone Project Example

Poverty can be defined as the deficiency of basic capability to take part in society. It can also be linked to the lack of adequate resources such as land to cultivate crops, a job to get income, clothes, food, poor housing and access to credit. It is often characterized by living in environments without clean sanitation, water and in environments that are vulnerable to crime. Poor people are individuals who live under circumstances that are considerably inferior to the mainstream population (European Commission, 2004).

Poverty is manifested at different levels. Relative poverty is a state in which the resources owned by an individual are extremely lower than those owned by an average family or people. The effect of relative poverty is that the people living in such conditions are barred from normal lifestyle activities, patterns and customs. Another level of poverty is absolute poverty where the deficiency level does not change as time goes by. The state of poverty remains the same despite an increase in economic performance (European Commission, 2004).

Poor people face numerous challenges. A key problematic aspect that faces many poor people is the problem of housing. It is evident that without adequate resources it becomes difficult for one to live in a well-constructed house. The lack of resources spills over to a poor state of housing.A Prospect of the Housing ProblemHousing for the poor is without a doubt a severe problem for many underprivileged people living in informal settlements on private and public lands. Although self-help housing projects are common in many countries, some people still find it difficult to afford resources to construct their houses.

In addition, most people lack the knowledge and skills for constructing durable houses that fit the climate of the areas in which they live.It is imperative to acknowledge that quality housing can bring potential benefits to many poor people across the globe. A study conducted by the World Bank (2015) disclosed that adequate housing is one of the workable solutions of subsiding poverty levels based on the fact that shelter is one of the most expensive items in a household.