IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Housing January 2012 | Page 9

Revolutionizing the way to make housing affordable for everyone

Community development challenges make
creating a housing solution difficult;
urbanization and cultural complexity make
scaling solutions even harder
Building a “habitat” is more than just a
house; it involves the complexities of a whole
community
Community development, particularly in
an urban setting, involves an ecosystem of
individual activists, government planning and
initiatives, and private development. Due to the
complexity of the community ecosystem, it is not
realistic for HFHI to gain competencies in every
piece of the value chain. Successful community
building will only result from efficaciously
managed partnerships and innovative enterprises
all working synergistically.
Infrastructure provides the skeleton of community
development
Managing electricity, waste, natural gas and
other infrastructure has historically been under
government control – even if private companies
owned it. Modern trends, especially in
developing countries, have begun to decentralize
this responsibility. Smaller companies, including
Solar Aid, have been extremely successful in
making energy collection and distribution an
entrepreneurial venture. Since beginning work
in rural Africa in 2006, Solar Aid has brought
sustainable electricity to over 100,000 people.34
Stable infrastructure will be a critical part of
upholding robust communities and sustaining the
housing platform.
Basic sanitation provides cleanliness and order
within a community
With one in four people in the world lacking
access to clean water and sanitation, the health
and dignity of countless communities are
affected. Currently, of the 3.5 million people per
year killed by water-related diseases, 84 percent
are children.35 HFHI has begun using small funds
to improve sanitation facilities for families and
communities as part of its mission to provide
adequate shelter, but identifying scalable and
sustainable solutions to water and sanitation
issues requires strategic partnerships with entities
that specialize in these areas.
Economic opportunity helps communities flourish
A strong community should be able to generate
economic activity and incentives for productivity
and growth. A vested interest from corporate
partners, and particularly small- and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), can create opportunity
for economic development. Business models
must be rethought to attract productive ventures

and entrepreneurs who can expand both market
size and offering.
Developing countries, and, in particular, base of
the pyramid (BOP) consumers in these countries,
can be extremely profitable. For example,
telecommunications companies in India reached
670 million users by 2010 and were growing by
20 million users per month.36 The BOP represents
4 billion people who have the multitrillion-dollar
purchasing power to make the companies of
tomorrow.37 Telecommunications companies
have also innovated business models to reach
the BOP by “right-sizing” solutions and offering
small bits of service (pay-as-you-go, minimal top
ups, and low initial investments) to reach more
people. For HFHI, experience has shown that
communities develop much more quickly and
grow rapidly when there is a robust market of
economic opportunity in close proximity. Their
strategy often incorporates providing local jobs
and encouraging entrepreneurial development.38
Healthy communities are dependent on healthy
citizens
Finding solutions to any and all of these problems
is dependent upon community members being
able to work and live healthy lives. Organizations
working to prevent and eradicate diseases
contribute to HFHI’s aims of maintaining a
decent place for everyone to live. Empowering
change in the health of communities will drive a
more productive workforce and stronger support
platform for other types of growth. Groups
such as the World Health Organization (WHO)
and a number of prominent NGOs are making
incremental progress in managing health and
wellness at the base of the pyramid, playing a
crucial role in community development.
Home ownership is more difficult in urban
environments
In a more technical area, HFHI faces an
extraordinary challenge in managing housing
solutions in the urban environment. HFHI’s
offering is built around creating opportunities
for home ownership. In urban areas, ownership
is far less common, and housing solutions
inherently depend on community solutions.
Dense population and land ownership intricacies
of urban areas make securing tenure and
construction using traditional HFHI methodology
much more difficult. At the present, government
groups and organizations such as the Department

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