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ADDRESSING LACK OF ACCESS TO QUALITY AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING on’ approach will be necessary. Therefore, many of these MFIs also offer non-financial support linked to financial products as well, such as educational materials related to house construction or renovation; trainings on home improvement plans and budgets; professional advice on planned construction or renovation; recommendation and even training of masons or other contractors; and legal advice to acquire land title and secure tenure.
These semi-finalists represent a broad spectrum of housing finance initiatives that respond to the challenges of the world’s poor. As financial institutions, naturally they all offered some form of financial product for housing, although there is a broad range of ways MFIs can do that, including: housing microfinance loans; micro mortgages, housing savings products (to meet large lump sums necessary for land or house purchase, or house renovation); microinsurance products (to cover house-related risks); or remittances for housing (so that family members
working in distant regions or countries can remit funds housing purposes back home). The impact of financial products can be leveraged when supplemented with non-financial support, especially in a sector that involves complex technical elements that may require expert input, such as from architects, engineers and builders. The selfbuilding and incremental culture of home development among the target segments means that it will seldom be feasible for a client to retain the services of these experts – a ‘hands
Finally, MFIs may seek to improve clients’ social environment in the context of their homes, including health, sanitation and safety through Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) or Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) products. Together these products and services represent different and innovative ways to improve housing conditions, from home purchase or expansion of existing living space, to providing access to clean water, sanitation, electricity, and other core housing needs, to raising the quality of those homes being lived in, and to mitigate against the risks of natural disasters using resilient and cost-effective designs and materials.