This report traces Venezuelan housing policies from 1952 to 1999. The report places housing policy in Venezuela within the larger context of housing in Latin America and shows how housing policy is a reflection of larger social, political, and economic issues within a nation. Specifically in Venezuela, the dependence on oil revenues and the centralized nature of the government as well as economic crisis determine housing practices and policy and shape the social policy landscape. Decentralization and economic and political crisis through the 1990s shaped the federal housing laws and impacted implementation. The presidency of Hugo Chavez has given social policy a new direction, but implementation still faces problems with a continued economic crisis, political uncertainty, and the mudslide disaster of December 1999.
