Around the world, rental housing is frequently seen as secondary to home ownership; yet it plays a crucial role in many countries. In particular, rental housing in urban informal neighbourhoods has a critical but consistently overlooked role in housing the most vulnerable households in the Global South. If better policy and practice are to be pursued, there is a need for improved data on rental housing in urban informal settlements, and in particular, better understanding of ‘the lived experiences of the poor’. This paper responds to these empirical gaps in debates on informality and rental housing with qualitative research on residents’ experiences of informal rented housing in two Colombian cities, Bogota and Cali. The paper frames informal rental housing as an essential option for diverse low-income households for whom ownership is not accessible or attractive. In this way, it also contributes to policy and theoretical debates calling for a better understanding of the dynamics, possibilities and potential of informal housing.

中文翻译：

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哥伦比亚的非正式租赁住房：低收入家庭的基本选择

在世界范围内，出租房屋通常被认为是房屋所有权的次要因素。然而，它在许多国家中起着至关重要的作用。尤其是，在非正规社区居住的房屋在全球南方最脆弱家庭的住房中起着至关重要但始终被忽视的作用。如果要采取更好的政策和做法，就需要改善有关城市非正式住区出租房屋的数据，尤其是要更好地理解“穷人的生活经验”。本文通过对哥伦比亚两个城市波哥大和卡利的居民非正式租赁住房体验的定性研究，对非正式和租赁住房辩论中的这些经验差距做出了回应。该文件将非正式的租赁住房构成了所有权不易获得或缺乏吸引力的各种低收入家庭的基本选择。这样，它也有助于政策和理论辩论，要求人们更好地了解非正式住房的动态，可能性和潜力。