CONTRIBUTOR
DISECTING LAYERS OF HOUSING DATA
The affordable housing and development sectors have built up a solid , well-respected data and information base regarding affordable housing across Africa , and to some extent , at the country level , which is available in the public domain . It is at the micro-level – at the level of the project or the Fund – that there is very little data in the public domain . As a result , there is very little information to frame a view on product , process , people , or performance – and as such , investors and other market players are reticent to engage because they can neither quantify the opportunity nor the risks .
This micro-level data is kept from the public domain because of its commercial value , and the fear that sharing will undermine the competitiveness of the players . The challenge therefore is to harvest or liberate and assemble this data in ways that support market development without undermining commercial competitiveness .
While the Open Access approach is driven in practice from the perspective of an actual investment , it sits within the affordable housing sector , in which a range of players are already producing information and data that is relevant to the performance of that investment . Open Access seeks to curate all this information in support of the investment , while then also adding to the resource with the data that the investment itself creates .
Once collected , the data will be reviewed and interrogated , and used to produce knowledge products that share key learnings in support of market development , targeted at the breadth of stakeholders . To this end , the approach draws both on the existing activities of all affordable housing sector players , as well as on the participation of the investor , the investee , and their developer , in the context of a specific investment .
The vision of the Open Access initiative is to create a full database of all investments into affordable housing in a particular geography . Data and information sharing between the parties , and collaboration in the advocacy and engagement processes , will leverage the individual efforts of the parties to realise economies of scale across their efforts .
The Open Access approach is based on the underlying principle that no DFI investment will ever achieve sufficient
housing delivery to fundamentally alter the availability of affordable housing on the continent . The need for affordable housing , in all its diversity , extends far beyond the capacity of existing investors . We therefore need to use our investments to crowd in other investment attention , and to use our developments to crowd in other development actors and activity .
The Open Access approach therefore asserts that when public money is invested into a development initiative it should have a twin-objective of : a . achieving the immediate development output ( i . e ., the building of houses ) and then also b . supporting broader market development , crowding in other investors and market players to the affordable housing space .
To achieve this , the sharing of data and information related to the investment experience becomes a condition of investment , expressly outlined in the Investment Side Letter .
Over the course of the investment , this data and information will be collected and then assembled / beneficiated into useful outputs for sharing in the public domain and supporting a targeted advocacy programme to overcome market blockages – which face the particular investment and the market as a whole .
“ In short , the Open Access initiative addresses the information asymmetry prevalent in the affordable housing sector which currently contributes to land speculation , mismanagement , and corruption .”
The establishment of an Affordable Housing Investment Alliance brings together like-minded investors who commit themselves to this principle of the Open Access approach and work together in achieving the overall goals of affordable housing market development .
In short , the Open Access initiative addresses the information asymmetry prevalent in the affordable housing sector which currently contributes to land speculation , mismanagement , and corruption .
The intention is that the data and market analytics produced through the effort will create the basis for evidencebased policy making and investments , while providing much needed predictability and transparency in the affordable housing market .
For more information on the Data Agenda for Africa and the Open Access Initiative , visit : https :// housingfinanceafrica . org / projects / a-housing-finance-data-agenda-for-africa /
www . saaffordablehousing . co . za SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2021 17