This book is a critical study on housing subsidies, one of the principal instruments the government uses to provide the lower income segment of the population access to decent housing. Each year, the government spends large fiscal resources to finance the subsidy programs. These resources have competing, alternative uses, and any misallocation imposes costs to society. And with the huge fiscal deficit that the country is currently facing, it is but both utilitarian and timely to review the allocation and expenditure of scarce public resources, especially the various subsidies. Despite the provision of these housing subsidies, a large majority of the urban poor are still housed in overcrowded shanties within slum settlements or in makeshift dwellings. Does this mean that the housing subsidies have not been successful in helping their intended beneficiaries get a decent shelter? Find out the answers from this book.