Is it possible to achieve Target 11.1 of the new global Sustainable Development Goals “By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing…” without subsidies? Yes, but it will depend on the relationship between what government officials define as “adequate” housing and the type of housing that is affordable to the poor. Shedding light on the important implications of this relationship – between adequate and affordable – is what this paper is all about.

The search for affordable housing is not new. “Almost one billion people, or 32 percent of the world’s urban population, live in slums, the majority of them in the developing world… And if no serious action is taken, the number of slum dwellers worldwide is projected to rise over the next 30 years to about 2 billion.” The poor find in slums the only feasible option for shelter when there is no supply of affordable housing. A true and sad reality: slums have proven to be the shelter solution the poor can afford when there is no other option. UN-Habitat’s above-mentioned statement about the explosive growth of slums assumes that the international community will not be able to find a way to make housing projects affordable to the poor. It doesn’t have to be that way.