Affordable Housing Organizations: Global Efforts to Address the Housing Crisis

Affordable housing remains a contentious topic globally because millions of people still cannot obtain safe, secure, and satisfactorily priced homes.

Despite its increasing concern on low–income housing, many governmental and non–governmental bodies are scouting for solutions that can offer shelter to low and middle economic strata.

Affordable housing organizations exist at local, national and global forums within which they could use different techniques and standards in order to respond to the crisis in the housing sector.

This blog gives an overview of some of the major affordable housing organizations as well as the policies that they support in various regions of the world.

1. Global Organizations Leading Affordable Housing Initiatives

In the global platform, various affordable housing organizations have committed themselves to fighting the affordable housing problem by lobbying and campaigning for its policies, including funding.

All of them operate internationally to support sustainable and affordable housing initiatives partnered by national governments and private actors.

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat):

UN-Habitat is perhaps one of the most well-known international organizations overseeing the provision of affordable homes for people all over the world.

UN-Habitat is the UN agency for sustainable urban development whose goal is to assist in procuring decent and pro-poor cities and communities through the concepts of affordable shelter, slum improvement, and urban development laws.

This task is done through partnerships with governments to offer technical support in formulation of policies that will support issuance of affordable housing to the citizens.

Their major program includes the Global Housing Strategy which aims at persuading different countries to employ housing strategies that comprise of social housing, private and community schemes.

World Bank Group:

Hipping subsidy is another approach used in affordable housing, and here the World Bank also has an important function since it offers both financial and some technical support to the developing countries.

One of the impacts of the World Bank in funding affordable housing is by sponsoring housing projects across the globe through IFC and other affiliates it undertakes affordable housing projects especially in the developing world.

They also emphasize on building the competent of local governments to foster enabling environments to affordable homes.

The Housing for All initiative of the World Bank offers loans for purchase of homes, basic walls and Shelter, and money for home improvement and rental for low income people in need of housing finance.

Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI):

Non-profit organisation with a mission in providing affordable house for families Habitat for humanity is present in over 70 countries and seeks to construct and repair houses by invitation of volunteerism from the community.

Housing Finance in Housing refers to the government policies that support home ownership than rental since housing markets in most developing nations are out of reach of most families.

The Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter is part of Habitat for humanity that focuses in shelter technologies and engage the private sector leverage in the creation of technologies such as low-cost building materials and financing models for affordable housing.

2. Regional and National Affordable Housing Organizations

At national and regional level, the affordable housing organizations undertakes the challenges and needs required for each area.

These organizations are usually concerned with formulating policies relative to place, landlordism, poverty and ethnicity etc.

National Housing Trust (NHT) – Jamaica:

The NHT is a Jamaican government organization whose main aim is to enhance owner occupation among working-class Jamaicans.

More specifically, the NHT funds the construction of low cost housing, offers soft loans and builds communities with physical infrastructures.

Over the years it has greatly advanced its quest in enabling_jamaicans to own homes through provision of relatively cheaper mortgage rates as well as through co-operation with the private sector in the construction of low unit housing.

Housing and Development Board (HDB) – Singapore:

The HDB or Housing and Development Board of Singapore is often ranked amongst some of the best housing organizations in the world.

The HDB has formulated an extensive affordable housing policy harnessing more than 80% of population living in government-built apartments in Singapore.

These homes are relatively cheap and can be bought based on assist rates, whereby various options for financing are provided to help those aspiring to buy the homes based on their income level.

Singapore’s model for affordable housing is particularly efficient because they address the issues of education, transport and parks etc within the housing system itself.

The HDB also has a policy of building green homes, including sustainable and energy efficient households in the city-state.

India’s Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO):

Affordable housing is a major issue in India and for the international community, where India accounts for a large housing deficit specifically in the segment of affordable homes; HUDCO one of the affordable housing organizations plays the key role contributing to the market growth.

The company provides finance and works towards developing affordable housing schemes for individuals belonging of not more than BPL category especially for urban poor of India.

Therefore, the object of established HUDCO along with its existing policies is said to achieve the goal of hutment elimination and bridging the housing shortage in both urban and rural areas by extending long term loans and subsidy to the state governments and housing agencies.

3. Key Policy Approaches for Affordable Housing

A number of policy measures are put in practice by affordable housing organizations across the globe in order to realise them.

These policies can be grouped into several key approaches, including:

Inclusionary Zoning:

Evaluations that compel developers to earmark a certain proportion of dwellings from new developments to be for lower income households.

This policy is preferred particularly in towns such as New York, London, and Paris where there is a huge shortage of house availability.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP):

This involves public mainstreaming in financing and constructing social beginner housing projects with the assistance of private developers.

This model is in the process of being adopted in such countries as the South Africa, Brazil and India.

Slum Upgrading and Land Tenure Reform:

Several developing countries majorly concentrating on improving slums and providing security of tenure so that the hope of low income earners is not.

Enumerated. Following this model is prevalent in Latin America, Africa, and Asia partially.

Conclusion

Affordable housing organizations are the non-profit agencies involved in housing delivery have been seen as the world’s hope in overcoming housing deficit.

Non-profit agencies involved in housing delivery have been seen as the world’s hope in overcoming housing deficit.

These include international agencies like UN Habitats and Habitat for Humanity international and national organizations such as Housing Development board of Singapore and the National Housing Trust of Jamaica among others; are striving to come up with policy and programmes for implementing polices that will guarantee all human beings decent shelter.

Through lobbying on proper policies for the disabled which include; proper policies on housing, these organizations are setting the pace on a proper course in realization of the goal on the right to housing for everybody.

Also read: UN-Habitat Global Housing Strategy Framework