*Correspondence to: Iftekhar Ahmed, Postgraduate Research School, School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK. HABI¹A¹ IN¹¸. Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 355—374, 1998  1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0197—3975/98 $19.00#0.00 PII: S0197-3975(98)00012-5 Crisis of Natural Building Materials and Institutionalised Self-Help Housing: The Case of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh IFTEKHAR AHMED* Oxford, ºK ABSTRACT Traditional rural housing is largely based on the use of locally available natural resources as prime building materials, usually in a process of self-help building undertaken by the community. Such housing is well adapted to a natural environment with widely available resources, and supports people’s direct involvement in the construction of their dwellings. However, the advent of a cash economy and current scarcity of natural resources has greatly affected the self-help building process. In rural Bangladesh, affluent households are shifting to manufactured materials and skilled builders, and the quality of housing of low-income households is declining. For the latter, self-help is the only option, and recognition of this fact and of the increasing decline in the quality of their housing has prompted institutional intervention. This paper discusses the Grameen Bank’s rural hous- ing programme in Bangladesh which provides loans for manufactured building components for low-income rural households to build houses on a self-help basis. A review of this programme indicates some of its strengths and shortcomings in the context of scarcity of natural building materials and widespread poverty.  1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Keywords: building materials; low-income housing; Grameen Bank; Bangladesh BACKGROUND Self-help is characteristic of most traditional housing (Oliver, 1987). This does not necessarily imply that a household possesses all the skills to construct a house entirely on its own. Quite often the services of specialist builders are required, traditionally distinguished from professional contractors by the fact that they do not usually receive payment in the form of cash, but provide service in exchange for food or future favours from the household. The specialist might be a family friend or neighbour, and his service is an accepted feature of the community. His role is usually minimal; requirements of construction are generally understood by the 355