A VALUE CHAIN FRAMEWORK FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN EMERGING COUNTRIES

Currently, one-sixth of the world's population – one billion people – live in urban slums in emerging countries. In addition, virtually all net growth of 2.6 billion in world population between now and 2050 is projected to occur in these cities. In effect, relatively poor nations will build the equivalent of a city of more than one million people each week for the next 45 years. Absent major change, the bulk of this new development will occur informally without integration into mainstream markets at tremendous public and private cost. A long history of government slum upgrading, sites and services, and other heavily-subsidized programs offers little hope for dealing with this emergency. While government inevitably plays an important function, new market-based approaches to affordable housing are essential to reach the massive scale commensurate with the enormous demand (Ferguson, 2007).