These 13 country reports were prepared to inform the Asia regional contribution to the UCLG GOLD Global Report on Housing Policy, which was prepared by ACHR in October 2018. United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is a worldwide network of some 1,000 cities and 175 local and regional governments, across 95 countries, which advocates for democratic local self government and represents the voice of local governments on many fronts. Every three years, UCLG produces an important global report which focuses on a specific aspect of local governance. Their 2019 report looks at housing policies, practices and the role of local governments in providing housing to all. When the UCLG invited ACHR to prepare the Asia contribution to this global housing policy report in 2018, we saw an opportunity to link with this active global coalition of local governments and to bring voices from the region- and from the ground – into this important housing report. But instead of contracting someone to research and write the paper alone, we decided to use the modest $20,000 budget from UCLG to turn the project into an opportunity for sharing, collaboration and learning across the region. COUNTRY REPORTS These 13 country reports were prepared to inform the Asia regional contribution to the UCLG GOLD Global Report on Housing Policy, which was prepared by ACHR in October 2018.

Bangladesh is aspiring to be a middle-income country by 2021. The country has demonstrated impressive trend of economic growth and development. However, local government institutions remain weak in delivering services to their citizens including housing. Limitation of resources, lack of accountability and the process of delivering services through top-down and centralized approach adds up in creating a challenging environment for providing housing for all, especially low-income groups. Bangladesh has good housing policy, yet it is not implemented properly. Government did not make satisfactory progress in housing development for low-income households in dense urban areas. Only the rate of eviction came down due to political will and constant advocacy by slum dwellers’ organizations with the help of pro-poor legal support groups. In the absence of government initiatives, the private sector who successfully provided housing for higher and middle income groups, could not offer any scheme for them either.