IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Housing January 2012 | Page 7

Revolutionizing the way to make housing affordable for everyone

Case Example: Nepal
What was there?
HFHI focused on building houses—usually in
small batches—in countries and communities
all over the world. Affiliate building rates varied
tremendously; HFH Portugal served seven
families this year; HFH Nicaragua served 34
families; HFH Ethiopia served 3,150, and HFH
India served 3,320.23 While these numbers are
significant, Nicaragua alone has 80 percent of
its population (5.7 million people) living under
US$2 a day.24
What’s happening now?
Specific affiliates have taken it upon themselves
to dramatically increase the scale of impact.
Regional and local affiliates are finding new
and innovative ways to turn their resources into
affordable housing. In Nepal, between 1997 and
2005, HFH Nepal constructed 830 homes. In just
five short years, 2010 marked the 10,000th home
built, which was being celebrated amid claims of
reaching 100,000 homes in another five years.

What really matters
In Macedonia, the political unrest caused by the
breakup of Yugoslavia and the violence that has
saturated the Balkans since the 1980s has left many
unable to purchase new homes or repair overcrowded
ones. For Simeon Gichevi and his family, a new home
will be “a dream come true. After all, the ultimate
goal of every family is to get a home of their own,
so this will make my entire family happy. And that is
what really matters in life!”

What enabled change?
Nepal has used several innovative techniques
to increase the reach of their programs. HFH
Nepal strategically engineered cost-effective,
environmentally friendly bamboo housing,
which made it faster and less expensive to build
stronger and more sustainable housing. HFH
Nepal could then focus their efforts on leveraging
partnerships with other NGOs, village lending
groups, and microfinance institutions.25
Using microfinance can start to bridge the
financing gap and make housing improvements
accessible to more people
The second goal of HFHI’s strategy is to mobilize
new capital to the global affordable housing
market. This plan incorporates goals to expand
into new segments within philanthropy, public,
and private sectors, as well as establish and grow
financing capabilities to supply new capital into
the affordable housing market.26
In September of 2010, HFHI CEO Jonathan
Reckford committed US$50 million towards a
microfinance housing fund and US$10 million
in technical assistance. These monies will help
families around the world upgrade and improve
their homes. The funds will be leveraged by
HFHI and matched by participating microfinance
organizations.27
Case Example: Macedonia
What was there?
From its inception until very recently, HFHI
financed house building, operations, and
fundraising efforts through their Fund for
Humanity and other revolving funds controlled
by either HFHI or local affiliates. These funds
added to the complexity of HFHI’s program

and contributed to the challenges facing all nonprofits managing large sums of money.
What’s happening now?
In more than 25 countries, microfinance
institutions are creating small loans through
communities to drive housing improvements.
In Macedonia, two organizations, Horizonti and
Mozhnosti Savin