Editor’s note: This post was written by Batool Hassan, with assistance from Aun Rahman
On Thursday, August 21, Acumen Fund Pakistan hosted a half day roundtable discussion on “Innovations in Low Income Housing: Local Challenges and Global Lessons.”
The roundtable convened a small group of 20 key stakeholders representing different areas within the housing development and housing finance sectors. Attendees discussed key challenges and issues facing low-income housing development in Pakistan. The roundtable also highlighted successful models locally and globally, key challenges to scale, and what steps are necessary at the private and public sector levels to facilitate on the ground movement in the affordable housing space.
The group included:
- Representatives from the State Bank of Pakistan
- Representatives from Sindh and Punjab government housing agencies
- Stakeholders from private banks and microfinance organizations
- Affordable housing developers, urban planners and architects
The event itself was an energizing and aspirational experience for the Acumen Fund Pakistan team – we have rarely before seen such a dedicated, informed, engaged, and impassioned group of individuals who sincerely have a stake in the low-income housing space in this country. The depth of knowledge and level of commitment to catalyze change in the sector was unparalleled.
In this day and time, with so much attention on housing for the poor, we came out of the meeting with an awareness and an understanding that we have a real chance to solve some substantial problems that are global in scale but with innovative local initiatives, we can genuinely tackle.
Within the two overarching themes of Housing Finance and Housing Development, there were some key emerging ideas, possibilities and learnings that were tangible take aways.
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