After reviewing structural changes in metropolitan areas of Latin America and the implications for housing, this paper describes five central neighbourhoods with a predominance of rental housing: three in Lima and one each in Havana and Rio de Janeiro. This includes the types of buildings, how, when and why they were built, who occupies them and who owns them. It also describes what influence government policy has had on them and what measures (if any) have been taken to maintain or improve them by owners and tenants. In some of the case study areas, it is the tenants, not the owners, who are committed to their neighbourhood and who are taking on most of the responsibility for their neighbourhood.