The vast majority of African people cannot afford adequate housing. UNCHS defines adequate housing as one with an acceptable level of privacy, space, physical accessibility, security, security of tenure, structural stability, durability, lighting, heating, ventilation, and basic social infrastructural services. About 50% of the African population is currently urban dwellers out of which 75% cannot afford formal housing. The concept of affordable housing was conceived with an aim of saving the low-income earners and the poor to access formal housing, especially in poor countries. Tanzania is one of the poor countries with a Gross Domestic Product per capita income record of 842.37 US$ in 2015 and defines affordable housing as the one which can adequately shelter all people below and above the poverty line. A literature review was carried out to understand the country’s economies and individual’s affordability levels in housing