Rental housing has remained a neglected area of national housing policy which has instead focused, often exclusively, on promoting home ownership. Consequently, rental housing has been overlooked with very few governments implementing any kind of policy to help develop or regulate this form of housing. Yet rental housing is a key component of a well-functioning housing market. While renting is not the panacea to solving the housing challenge in the developing world, it does constitute a significant and vital housing tenure option that should be promoted alongside, not in competition to, home ownership.