Access to safe and affordable housing is a fundamental human right. But unfortunately, it is not enjoyed equally by all members of society. Women in particular face significant barriers to accessing housing finance. This can have a range of negative impacts on their lives. In honor of International Women’s Day this year, the Way Forward Housing Coalition (WHFC) recently held …
We know that housing has a larger-than-expected contribution to developing country GDP when both housing investment (construction of new housing) and housing services (rents, maintenance and utilities) are accounted for. Including the informal housing sector increases housing’s contribution to GDP even more, particularly in developing countries. However, these large economic gains will not be realized without financial products and services …
Manoj Sharma, ADB’s Chief of Urban Sector Group, SDGs and Climate Change Development, exclaimed that the ADB’s 1st Asia Pacific Housing Conference (AHC 2022) has “woken a sleeping giant”! He was referring to the renewed strategic attention that ADB has committed itself to in the housing sector. There are several myths and metaphors of a sleeping giant: Japanese Admiral Yamamoto …
The global housing sector is fragmented, slow to innovate, underfunded and often isolated from the rest development community. Yet, the sector’s status quo can no longer be tolerated. An estimated 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing, with the deficit continuing to grow larger each day. Yet, housing is a human right that provides families with far more than a secure place …
The global economy is in a state of disorder, the adverse effects of climate change have become palpable, and the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed a clear linkage between poor housing quality and public health.
This blog originally appeared as the introductory essay[1] to the 2021 edition of the Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook. After a difficult year, African housing markets are showing their resilience, responding to the challenges with innovation and perseverance that earlier years might not have imagined. Housing circumstances across the continent continue to be dire – living conditions have worsened in …
From 3D printing to biomanufactured materials, new building technologies have been making the headlines as a quicker—and cheaper—way to address the global housing deficit, which is expected to affect 1.6 billion people by 2025. These new technologies could also present outsized environmental benefits by cutting construction waste, while proving to be carbon neutral or even negative. This enthusiasm has been much welcomed, but do these technologies live …
