The provision of affordable housing at scale remains a challenge in most countries, particularly those in the developing world and in transition. Due to a lack of livable, affordable, and well-located housing alternatives, approximately 500 million people in Asia live in slums and informal settlements. While in different countries and regions, the specificities of the affordable housing challenge vary, the universal truism is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the vast majority of residents to obtain and retain adequate, resilient, and affordable housing.

According to population reference bureau (July 2011), even though the world population growth rate has slowed from 2.1 percent per year in the late 1960s to 1.2 percent today, the size of the world’s population has continued to rise—from 5 billion in 1987 to 6 billion in 1999, and to 7 billion in 2011. Also, it is entirely possible that the 8th billion will be added in 12 years as well and by 2050, more than 2 billion people will be added into the existing world population. Most of this population will be contributed by the world’s poorest countries and will be in need of affordable low cost housing and infrastructure.