Informal housing
Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the informal housing industry is part of the informal sector. 

To have informal housing status is to exist in "a state of deregulation, one where the ownership, use, and purpose of land cannot be fixed and mapped according to any prescribed set of regulations or the law". While there is no global unified law of property-ownership, typically, the informal occupant or community will lack security of tenure and, with this, ready or reliable access to civic amenities (potable water, electricity and gas supply, road creation and maintenance, emergency services, sanitation and waste collection). Due to the informal nature of occupancy, the state will typically be unable to extract rent or land taxes. 

The term "informal housing" is useful in capturing the informal population other than those living in slum settlements or shanty towns. UN-Habitat more narrowly defines slum housing as lacking at least one of the following criteria: durability, sufficient living space, safe and accessible water, adequate sanitation, and security of tenure.

Common categories or terms associated with informal housing include: slums, shanty towns, squats, homelessness, backyard housing and pavement dwellers.

* Solving the Housing Crisis Half-a-House at a Time: Incremental Housing as a Means to Fulfilling the Human Right to Housing (U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 2021) - Law Review article reviewing legal implementation of incremental housing in Chile and the United States
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housing
Concept
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shelter
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settlement
Concept
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informal sector
Concept
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slum
Concept
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shanty town
Concept
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UN-Habitat
ORG
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slums
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shanty towns
Concept
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squats
Concept
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homelessness
Concept
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backyard housing
LOC
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pavement dwellers
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Informal housing
Concept
2021-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2021
DATE
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