IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Housing January 2012 | 页面 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

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