Housing that is constructed by its users, does not conform to standards, has absent or improvised level of infrastructure, occupied by low income groups and has a precarious nature. Most low income households in Third World Cities have access to housing through informal sector. Informal housing is also referred to as spontaneous, uncontrolled, irregular, unplanned, self-help, marginal, peripherial settlements. This may be true for Africa but not for Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The studies show that people who live in illegal housing have lived in the city for long.
Homelessness is associated with rooflessness.
Homeless people are not only concentrated in Third World Cities. Most cities in developed countries have high numbers of homeless as well. Issues of Housing Issue of housing is highly linked to issues of land and housing finance. Access to land has important consequences for housing the poor. In addition, there are difficulties involved in buying and selling land, which also works in disadvanatge of the poor.