Rapid population growth and migration to urban areas have combined to create an increasingly serious housing shortage. Destructive hurricanes have not helped the situation either. The National Housing Institute and the National Housing Bank, both established in 1962, have been responsible for a great deal of construction, including about 10,000 homes during 1966–72. During 1975–78, construction activity slowed down, but the 1979 hurricanes prompted a construction boom—not, however, to create new housing but to replace units that had been destroyed by the storms. The Guzmán government promoted the building of low-cost housing at a rate of about 6,000 units a year. President Jorge Blanco pledged in 1982 that 25,000 low-cost houses would be built annually during his administration and President Balaguer, after he returned to office in 1986, also built low-cost housing, though at a far slower pace than announced. But Hurricane Georges in 1998 damaged about 170,000 homes, about 10% of the nation's entire housing stock. About 49,000 of these homes were completely destroyed. With assistance from foreign programs such as USAID, the government was able to complete 2,250 new homes by August 2001 and make repairs and utility upgrades to over 1,000 others.
Most housing units are detached houses; other units included single rooms and apartments. Concrete, wood, and palm were the most frequently used construction materials for dwellings, and they were used about equally.