IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Housing January 2012 | Page 3

Revolutionizing the way to make housing affordable for everyone Inadequate housing is an unrelenting problem for 1.6 billion people worldwide A sunrise is happening somewhere in the world right now. A new day is beginning— perhaps in Ballarat, Australia; perhaps in Balkh, Afghanistan; perhaps in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In each of these cities, today’s sunrise holds more hope for a family who has been living in substandard conditions for far too long. In reality, housing is like a sunrise. It’s the beginning. As Bishnu Maya Sunar, a widow, mother, and new Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) homeowner in Nepal said, “Now that we will have our own home, this is a good start—a new life for both of us.”1 Adequate housing means disease prevention. Chagas, a disease spread by insects, kills tens of thousands of people living in mud huts each year in Brazil. A simple concrete floor and solid roof can dramatically reduce these numbers.2 Adequate housing means better education. In the United States, dropout rates are ten times higher for students who live in poverty housing.3 A home makes it easier for children to study and stay in school. Adequate housing is a deterrent to crime. A shack with a cloth-flapped door in Malawi stands less of a chance against intruders than a walled home with a door that locks.4 Adequate housing improves human life. There are currently 1.6 billion people living in substandard conditions worldwide who are struggling with illness, insufficient education, and crime.5 Despite current efforts, this number is actually increasing because of population growth, continued urbanization, and increasing wealth disparity. If these trends are not managed, the United Nation (UN) projects this number will grow to 3 billion (40 percent of the total population) by 2030.6 HFHI has been working for over 35 years through networks, partnerships and innovative business models to make substandard housing conditions socially unacceptable within communities and to put a stop to inadequate housing. Although HFHI has done a tremendous amount of good for each family and individual they reach, 2.5 million served among a need of 1.6 billion (that is, 320 million homes) is just the beginning of what is needed. Growing HFHI’s reach and impact by 10x is absolutely essential, and it will require growth of 100x in order to make a major dent in this need. Achieving this will require broader and more committed networks, new partners, and innovative business models to attract the right resources and capital. Figure 1. Visual Representation of Market Size 3