Housing and economic access
Slum-dwellers make up over a third of the world's urban population, or over 1 billion people. That number will reach 1.4 billion by 2020 if no action is taken.
Worst is the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 72% of urban dwellers live in slums, and this nears close to 100% in some states.
South Asia follows close behind, with slums also swelled by massive rural-urban migration and absence of any other housing options. Over half of India’s urban population lives in informal settlements, the majority without access to reliable and quality services, such as running water and sanitation.
Not only is inadequate housing an issue when it comes to health, personal security, and meeting basic needs, but it also is part of a socioeconomic trap. Informal and inadequate housing often creates deep pockets of populations that are unable to increase their income, improve education, or participate in formal systems through which they might access better housing and employment. Often, this social group is charged a risk premium that is increasingly out-of-reach or falls outside the mandate of traditional institutions.
Our Focus Areas
Acumen Fund’s Housing portfolio invests in sustainable, scalable enterprises that focus on both supply of housing and financing for housing, and on broader financial innovations that provide economic access to the poor. The portfolio seeks to increase access through:
Innovative Financing Solutions: Encouraging traditional financial institutions – both local and global – to create new financial products and upgrade systems infrastructure to open the housing market for the bottom of the economic pyramid
Supply of Housing/Services: Investing at various points along the sector’s value chain to help obtain land, secure legal rights, build quality infrastructure, and provide services that are affordable and self-sustaining.
Holistic “Shelter-Infrastructure” Solutions: Creating low-income housing approaches that are sensitive to the urban fabric and that can serve as global role models
Learn more about some of the businesses in our Housing Portfolio that are leading the way to help solve these challenges.