Acquiring low-cost building supplies

The cheapest materials are those found on the building site or in its vicinity. Those are also often the only materials the poorest can afford.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends the development of policies and practices to reach informal sector and self-help housing builders. This could be achieved by adopting measures to increase the affordability of building materials on the part of the urban and rural poor, through, inter alia, credit schemes and bulk procurement of building materials for sale to small-scale builders and communities.