The silence of the experts: “Aided self-help housing”, 1939–1954

Those who have discussed aided self-help housing (“site-and-services”) have generally assumed that the idea was first developed in the 1960s and became influential only after it was adopted by the World Bank in the 1970s. In fact, the theory and practise of aided self-help became well-developed during the 1940s and early 1950s. It was articulated most fully by Jacob L. Crane at the Housing and Home Finance Agency in Washington, DC. It was promoted throughout the developing world by agencies of the United States, and to a lesser extent by the United Nations and the British Colonial Office. It was first widely adopted in Puerto Rico, an example followed by the early 1950s by other Caribbean countries. By then it was also being adopted by several Latin American nations, notably Colombia and Peru, by South Africa, and by several British colonies and ex-colonies, notably the Gold Coast, Kenya, and India. These early experiments taught lessons which were soon forgotten, guaranteeing that mistakes were later repeated. Future research should consider the extent to which early experiments in aided self-help reflected local initiatives.