I could not have been happier when I heard that this year the European Microfinance Platform is focusing on housing microfinance.
As a microfinance specialist for the last 21 years—and the last 9 exclusively dedicated to microfinance products for housing—I have witnessed the growth potential of this sub-sector of microfinance, as well as the constraints and limitations to the expansion of housing finance portfolios, amongst which the most important include lack of adequate capital and insufficient knowledge on how to develop differentiated housing finance products.
When we hear that:
* at least 1.6 billion of the global population lives in substandard housing,
* at least half of the global population—3.5 billion people—currently lives in cities, and
* 828 million people live in slums (according to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals),
both funders and financial institutions alike should take note and pay close attention. Within these concerning figures, which only seem to move upward, an opportunity is evidenced. A good portion of the individuals denoted by these statistics have been or are served by traditional microfinance loans, which are frequently diverted towards efforts to improve housing conditions.
Read more in our blog
As a microfinance specialist for the last 21 years—and the last 9 exclusively dedicated to microfinance products for housing—I have witnessed the growth potential of this sub-sector of microfinance, as well as the constraints and limitations to the expansion of housing finance portfolios, amongst which the most important include lack of adequate capital and insufficient knowledge on how to develop differentiated housing finance products.
When we hear that:
* at least 1.6 billion of the global population lives in substandard housing,
* at least half of the global population—3.5 billion people—currently lives in cities, and
* 828 million people live in slums (according to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals),
both funders and financial institutions alike should take note and pay close attention. Within these concerning figures, which only seem to move upward, an opportunity is evidenced. A good portion of the individuals denoted by these statistics have been or are served by traditional microfinance loans, which are frequently diverted towards efforts to improve housing conditions.
Read more in our blog