Root experts for a new model for home loans

According to housing experts, funders who design products to help low-income families build or improve their shelters are very promising.

This can be done by granting small loans that help them build houses in a piecemeal fashion. Such funding for incremental improvements can, for example, allow families to borrow loans to build foundations and, once that is paid, they will go up to a similar amount to complete the walls at the same time. as the houses were built. indicating that the urban population is expected to double over the next 25 years, housing experts have sounded alarm in the face of an imminent crisis in sub-Saharan Africa

reports show that less than 5% of Africans have access to En Designing appropriate financial products for progressive residential construction and improvement, the MasterCard Foundation's program director, Ruth Dueck Mbeba, said that this could help financiers. become commercially viable and sustainable.

"When products are well developed and the portfolio is well managed, it can be a profitable segment for a bank or microfinance," she said at a housing conference held in Uganda last week.

.According to reports that 1.6 billion people in the world live in substandard housing, Ms. Mbaba pointed out that the demand for decent shelter and affordable housing

Most banks reject or are generally unaware of the financing of low-income households because of the perceived risk and high cost of product development.

Contributing to the satisfaction of basic human needs and the right of low-income families Habitat for Humanity a partnered with the Mastercard Foundation to work with market systems and advise financial service providers on product design residential microfinance.

Kenya Kenya Finance Trust (KWFT) and Stima Sacco are the financial institutions adopted the program while Centenary Bank, Opportunity Bank and Pride Microfinance Limited are the main commercial service providers of neighboring Uganda. [19659006] KWFT's Executive Director, Mwangi Githaiga, said the institution had disbursed 3.5 billion shillings for building houses in rural Kenya in 45 counties out of 47 to give people the An opportunity to improve their lives. "We have a portfolio of 20 billion shillings spent on housing projects with the aim of improving the rural economy and controlling rural-urban migration," he said. Financial institutions and developers have channeled their resources. He said that they grant loans ranging from 5,000 to 1 million shillings.