People downvoting this, did you also approve of UC Berkeley deleting videos because they were not captioned for deaf people? Setting minimum standards on housing quality without guaranteeing affordable housing availability seems very similar to me.

I agree with your post, perhaps the word slums didn't sit well with some people. If I were to rephrase it I would say, 'The poor in Bangladesh are at least allowed to build shelters without approval from city/building councils."

Sometime ago on HN, there was the story of the Canadian gentleman who built his house. His crime was that he didn't use wood stamped by inspectors. It was found that he used wood far superior to what was required.

Back home, people make their own bricks. South Africa is more advanced than other African countries. The poor here do not make their own bricks. There too many laws and the laws are enforced.

I don't understand the downvotes.

Rent is just theft based on the monopolization of land. Forcing the poor to pay to live in government approved ghettos is more extortion of their limited resources by those who monopolize the commons.

Witnessing the loss of squatter's rights across much of the industrialized world is one of the most shocking things I've experienced during my lifetime.

It is true, poor people in those places really don't need much. You can live, eat grow for almost nothing. People can have happy lives without much money.

Why is this being downvoted? It's objectively true in every place I've lived.