There is a serious housing shortage everywhere, although it is especially acute in Manila. In many places, people live in their own dwellings, but the houses are often substandard and lack elementary facilities for health and sanitation. To help meet this problem, the government has relocated thousands of “informal settlers” (i.e., squatters) in Manila to resettlement areas in nearby provinces. Assorted housing plans also have been instituted by various administrations since the Marcos era. Such projects generally consisted of model communities that provided residents with hygienic dwellings, a number of amenities, and facilities for raising livestock and for pursuing cottage industries and other means of making a living. Other important programs have included converting vacant government lands into housing sites for low-income individuals, as well as providing mortgage programs that allow needy families to acquire tracts of land for housing construction and improvement through membership in a specific development community.