Affordable Housing Development:

The state delivery of affordable and sustainable housing continues to be a complicated challenge in Africa, and there is a need to encourage private sector participation. As a result, this study examines the risks associated with private sector participation in affordable housing and supporting infrastructure investment and the strategies for mitigating the risks from an Afrocentric perspective. The evidence from a systematic literature review was coupled with the opinion of an international expert panel to address the paper’s aim and provide recommendations for developing improved housing and supporting infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review outcomes and the qualitative data from the panel discussion were analyzed using thematic analysis.

The results revealed that market dynamics, land supply and acquisition constraints, cost of construction materials, unsupportive policies, and technical and financial factors constitute risks to affordable housing in the region. Mitigation strategies include leveraging joint efforts, strengths, and resource bases, increasing access to land and finance for private sector participation, developing a supportive government framework to promote an enabling environment for easy access to land acquisition and development finance, local production of building materials, research, and technology adoption.

In line with the United Nations (UN) Agenda 2030 targets and principles, reforms are required across the housing value chain, involving the private sector and community. Application of the study’s recommendations could minimize the risks of affordable housing delivery and enhance private sector participation. Housing, which comprises the physical structure and supporting services and amenities for health and welfare, is considered one of the most fundamental human requirements.

Housing the urban poor has remained a significant concern for decades, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (World Bank, 2015), with annual deficits recording between 200k to 700k units in countries including Cameroun, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (Proxenos, 2023). With the continuous and accelerating economic expansion, population increase, urbanization, and the resultant pressure on the demand for land, housing, and infrastructure services, a further rise in the need for infrastructure is anticipated (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/ACET, 2020).

With the ever-growing urbanization, sub-Saharan Africa deals with challenges, including land inaccessibility, lack of housing finance instruments, weak credit market, and inadequate access to decent housing and infrastructure services (Bah et al., 2018). One billion people, or roughly a third of the world’s urban population, already reside in slum settlements in developing nations, and by 2030, could be quadrupled (UN, 2023). This was referred to as a “silent emergency” (UN-Habitat, 2023). Having access to quality, affordable housing is fundamental to reducing poverty, improving equal opportunities, and guaranteeing sustainable growth, related to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 (to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable).

The aim is to place housing at the center of specific policies to significantly reduce the number of people living in conditions below minimum standards by 2030. However, achieving this is difficult as many Sub-Saharan countries struggle to provide affordable housing and deal with the effects of their colonial history, with Eurocentric land policies and legal frameworks. In many countries like Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, this legacy still contributes to the crisis associated with land in both rural and urban areas, even after attaining independence (Kabongo, 2021).

The UN-Habitat defines affordable housing as one that “is adequate in quality and location and does not cost so much that it prohibits its occupants from meeting other basic living costs or threatens their enjoyment of basic human rights” (World Economic Forum (WEF), 2019). With growing urbanization and competition for limited resources, affordable housing in quality and quantity has been a concern for decades. Housing is not sustainable in a world in which only a few can afford it (WEF, 2019).