Quality: 4 - País

Upstream financing

0

Upstream financing

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2015:

Stakeholders

Location

City: Communauté rurale de Fafacourou
Country/Region: Gambia

Description

According to the Gambian Land Minister, the country needed approximately 50,000 housing units in 2015. This project demonstrates the active role the private sector can play in developing alternative forms of affordable housing by making materials cheaper for clients who do not have access to formal financing. The company proposes a purchase scheme based on progressive savings while offering technical and financial assistance. The model is “pay per use”: the cement blocks and their storage are paid monthly and when they are enough, the company takes care of the transportation for free. 

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Microfinance

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Microfinance

Policies and regulations

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 1976:

Stakeholders

Location

Country/Region: Pakistan

Description

The Grameen Bank is a pioneering the possibly most well-known micro-finance institution in Asia, if not the world. It was started in 1976 and aims to provide small loans to households on favourable terms, notably a low interest rate. In 2009 its total revenue was 209 million USD. It is considered a success due to its low default rate, ability to keep interest rates low and borrowing terms flexible, and it does not rely on international donor funding or national government contributions and is therefore totally self-sufficient. 

In 1984 the Bank introduced housing loans. These are perceived as very attractive by low-income households and consequently there has been consistently high demand. The loan period is five years, repayments are weekly and the interest rate is fixed at eight per cent. Between February 2010 and January 2011, 7,215 houses were built using the loans, which amount to 1.16 million USD. The houses are modest yet flood resistant, important in Bangladesh’s river delta geography. With the loan, a household buys a kitset house: four pre-cast concrete columns, a sanitary slab and 26 corrugated iron roof and wall sheets and they construct it themselves. So far 130 million USD has been dispersed in housing loans. Title is invested with the borrower and in 96 per cent of cases this is a woman. 

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Netherlands: NWB Bank (Nederlandse Waterschapsbank) affordable housing bonds

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Netherlands: NWB Bank (Nederlandse Waterschapsbank) affordable housing bonds

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 1954:

Stakeholders

  • NWB Bank

Location

City: Vaassen
Country/Region: Netherlands

Description

The NWB Bank is a large Dutch public investment bank, set up in 1954. In 2017 it created the SDG Housing Bonds, focusing on specific impact drivers for affordability and energy efficiency in social housing, to attract dedicated investors into affordable housing provision. This product won the best social bond award in 2018 and 2019 by the Environmental Finance investment analysis service. These affordable housing bonds are priced according to demand and strategically marketed to a small pool of investors interested in social and green housing. To date they have been significantly oversubscribed. The bonds fund loans for the provision, renovation and retrofitting of income-targeted social housing in the Netherlands, managed by not-for-profit organizations. Social bond investors demand transparency, requiring high standards of reporting. Further work is needed to define the affordable and social benchmarks used in investor reports, as these can change. In addition, NWB co-operates with Aedes, the representative body for social housing providers in the Netherlands, to produce key performance indicator data on the bonds’ impact on social housing provision. The two organizations also organize regular site visits to the developments funded by the bonds’ investors to see the impact of their investments. 

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ㅤ Encouraging the residential mobility of social housing tenants: England’s Right to Move policy (United Kingdom)

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ㅤ Encouraging the residential mobility of social housing tenants: England’s Right to Move policy (United Kingdom)

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2015:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: UK government

Location

Country/Region: United Kingdom

Description

In 2015 the UK government passed the Right to Move statutory guidance under the new Allocation of Housing Regulations for England. This guarantee removed residency or queuing requirements for social housing units if prospective tenants move to take up employment or an apprenticeship. For this, the previous ‘hardship’ criteria have been extended to those moving for work. Local authorities are since required to offer a minimum of 1% of their housing stock under the Right to Move scheme.  

Previously, prospective council or housing association tenants often needed to sacrifice their rent-controlled tenancy in order to take up work elsewhere, effectively disincentivising employment as waiting lists were often long and private rental options too expensive for these households. The new regulations thus remove rent-benefit and housing affordability related barriers from employment related moves and encourage residential mobility within the social housing sector and across districts. It is not clear whether the Right to Move programme has catalysed moves between districts and lowered some of the mobility barriers.  

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Bathroom, kitchen and laundryin housing production: prefab wet cell-unit design for building retrofit

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Bathroom, kitchen and laundryin housing production: prefab wet cell-unit design for building retrofit

Mismatches
Urban Design
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2021:

Stakeholders

  • Natalia Maria Gaspar
  • Paulo Eduardo Fonseca de Campos
  • FAUUSP — Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo da Universidade de São Paulo

Location

Continent: South America
City: Altamira
Country/Region: Brazil

Description

The Prefabricated wet cell-unit is a compact plumbing core. It is composed of panels and countertop of sink produced in micro-high performance reinforced concrete (HPC) and coated with epoxy paint and connected to each other by welded metal inserts – the HPC also alows covering the panels with tiles. Other elements, such as sanitary ware and accessories, PEX plumbing pipes, window frames and electrical installations are commonly found on the market. This Prefab Wet Cell-Unit for Housing Retrofit was thought as a cost-downsizing agent in housing production-process with the retrofit of old vacant building (like the ones located at the downtown of big brazilian cities, e.g. São Paulo’s downtown). The units will be moved to the aimed building by truck and will be elevated by cranes for getting inside the apartments. By using the prefab wet cell units, the apartment interiors are likely to be more flexible to the family needs, besides the fact that the unit will make faster the retrofit process. Therefore, having a more rational and industry-standard building site, it is expected decent working conditions, which will impact better incomes for the workers and formal, legalized jobs in the construction industry. The wet cell-unit can also be a relevant agent in the complete using of the land stock and in the infrastructure of the big brazilian cities.The Prefabricated wet cell-unit was selected in 2021 to be part of the exhibition “An architecture and urban planning guide to the 17 UN sustainable development goals”, organized by Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil – IAB as part of the closing activities of the 27th UIA Congress 2021 Rio de Janeiro. Available at www.iabsp.org.br/exposicao_ods_iab_uia_2030.mp4 and at www.iabsp.org.br/guia_iab_agenda_2030.pdf. It was shortlisted at the International Award for Architecture Diploma ACXT/IDOM 2009 3rd Edition – promoted by ACXT Architects/IDOM Consulting Engineering Architecture. Available at tinyurl.com/acxtidom. And it was awarded silver winner in the Student category of the IDEA Brasil Award 2010. Available at tinyurl.com/ideabrasil.

The unit was proposed as a way to answer some important questions raised from the low-income housing production, especially the building retrofit aimed at social housing purposes:

It should be industrially prefabricated, gathering more working hours at the factory than in the building site, guaranteeing better and more comfortable conditions for the workers.
Having its cost in mind, the units should be compact for better horizontal movement (factory to building site track) and better vertical movement (by the cranes)
An easy plumbing installation (in-out water) and easy ways for keeping and fixing the unit were thought as design principles.
Minimum interference in the retrofitted building structure.
Unit compactness: use little direct area and little area next to the unit for circulation aims, when completely installed, as for optimize the apartment area available for other rooms.

Along the design process, we noted that the industrialized production of that bathroom or of that device is attached to the kind of building type, therefore it was selected the following types as a working platform: empty buildings located at the downtown area of big brazilian cities that are aimed at social housing by the use of the retrofit methods.

The bathroom is subject to the same precarious the low-income dwellings are subject to when they are built in self-help programs, along many weekends by their owners, in far away peripheries and urban fringes .The low-income families, subject to all kind of exploitation, can’t buy or rent homes in downtown areas due to real estate speculation over these places and can only live in far distant districts. However, the downtown areas of big cities in Brazil have the high rate of vacant buildings and are provided with an urban infrastructure and transportation means.

By industrializing the building of the house in Brazil, or in the scope of this study, by industrializing the bathroom-kitchen-laundry as a device attached to the apartment to be retrofitted, means not only turning higher the living conditions of low-income classes and making the building conditions of their homes akin to the quality of industrial processes, but also including those low-income families in the most advanced methods of production, guaranteeing the better working conditions and making them able to search for better housing financing programs. And makes them being effective part of the city.

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Workshops for Construction and Training of a Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument based on Community Health Agents

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Workshops for Construction and Training of a Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument based on Community Health Agents

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2022:

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB)

Location

City: Marcelândia
Country/Region: Brazil

Description

The case presented is the creation of a local policy for housing diagnosis based on the action of Community Health Agents (ACS – Community Health Agents) that can be a model for Brazilian cities. The relationship between public health, quality of life and housing conditions was even more evident with the economic and sanitary crisis caused by the Sars-COV 2 pandemic. In Brazil, the housing scenario is experiencing one of the most critical moments in history, with cuts in federal resources and environmental disasters, which mainly affect the population of greater social vulnerability. Thus, the municipal government must promote policies that guarantee the right to decent housing. One of these strategies is the implementation of Technical Assistance in Social Interest Housing (ATHIS – Assistência Técnica em Habitação de Interesse Social). This policy is regulated in Brazil by Federal Law 11.888/2008.   There is a direct relationship of hospitalizations in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS – Sistema Único de Saúde) caused by lack of basic sanitation, poor housing and urban quality – lack of infrastructure, clean water and insalubrity problems. This panorama increases the costs of Public Health and could be prevented with access to healthy housing. Therefore, it is necessary to bring the architects closer to the population in housing vulnerability. This close relationship between health and living conditions is essential in the intersectoral policy agenda, especially at the local level.   Given this perspective, the Maringá core of the Paraná Department of the Institute of Architects of Brazil (IAB/PR – Núcleo Maringá do Departamento Paraná do Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil), sponsored by the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil (CAU/BR – Conselho de Arquitetura e Urbanismo do Brasil), in partnership with the João Pinheiro Foundation (FJP – Fundação João Pinheiro), is creating a Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument (IDHM – Instrumento de Diagnóstico Habitacional Municipal) based on the action of Community Health Agents. These professionals will be trained to apply and, later, act as multipliers. This instrument is being designed from the methodology of the João Pinheiro Foundation, an institution that calculates the quantitative and qualitative housing deficits since 1995 in Brazil. The first case of application of the instrument is being carried out in the city of Maringá, Paraná state.

The main objective of the proposal is to obtain territorialized data on housing inadequacies in the municipalities and to integrate health and housing information systems. From the case of Maringá, the instrument can be incorporated into the SUS, covering 63,62% of the Brazilian population that is served by the Family Health Strategy (Estratégia Saúde da Família), according to data from the Ministry of Health of Brazil for 2021. The information collected by Community Health Agents in the monthly visits and registrations of the families’ houses is not sufficient to guide specific housing policies. There is a lack of information such as identification of cohabitation, improper water storage, inadequate coverage, lack of exclusive sanitary units, excessive rent burden, and lack of accessibility for people with disabilities and the elderly, among others.

Data collected by the Health Agents will be automatically integrated with the local housing information system. This information will support the application of resources in promoting intersectoral public policies between Health and Housing, recognizing the role and social function of the Architect and Urbanist. Diagnoses will also assist in the development of Local Plans for Housing of Social Interest (PLHIS – Plano Local de Habitação de Interesse Social) and the distribution of public resources according to intervention needs contributing to the reduction of urban inequalities and the right to health, well-being and decent housing.

The project is part of the forum theme as a case of mobilizing public and private agents from various disciplinary fields to create an innovative intersectoral policy to diagnose the housing situation at the local level.   Housing diagnoses carried out in Brazil are developed based on statistical data, mainly with information collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE – Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia Estatística) in the Demographic Censuses. These censuses are conducted at a periodicity of 10 years. The project, developed by the core Maringá of IAB, proposed a territorialization of housing data, identifying the needs for housing improvements, with continuous monitoring of the housing situation of the population through the monthly visits of Community Health Agents.   One of the impacts, in addition to the integration of health and housing systems in the city of Maringá, is the creation of a methodological and the design of training material, capable of becoming a model for Brazilian cities. Actions like this, which seeks to integrate housing issues into the public health system in Brazil, could be a way to popularize the architect’s profession.   The creation of the Municipal Housing Diagnosis Instrument aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals elaborated by the United Nations (UN) – mainly SDG 3 “Good Health and Well-Being”, SDG 6 “Clean Water and Sanitation” and SDG 11 “Cities Sustainable and Communities” – stimulating and contributing to the promotion of Public Health and Housing Policies for the Brazilian population.

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A Report on Sanitation Technologies for Transforming Urban Settlements

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A Report on Sanitation Technologies for Transforming Urban Settlements

Mismatches
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2022:

Stakeholders

  • Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH )

Location

Continent: Asia
City: Chhindwara
Country/Region: India

Description

A compendium of proven urban sanitation technical solutions for three different settlement types -suburban ward, transforming rural settlement, and greenfield site- in India.
The study assesses the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in urban sanitation technologies in India and provides a decision-making support tool for local administration, community action groups and other stakeholders to identify appropriate technologies for various settlement types. The compendium examines various sanitation systems and technologies and provides a decision framework and standards for planners and implementers. Case studies demonstrate the methodology applied to three different settlement typologies.

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0

Urban Design
Promotion and production

Main objectives of the project

Date

  • 2021:

Stakeholders

  • Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH )
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • KVA MATx

Location

Country/Region: Tajikistan

Description

A case study on voluntary relocation developed by the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the design firm KVA MATx to develop solutions to help vulnerable and disaster-affected communities plan for a better future. The case study looks at Basid village, located in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast of Tajikistan, which faces multiple natural hazards. The partners worked with the community to develop a voluntary resettlement plan to a nearby safer location.

The case study combines the community’s own skills and knowledge with data-driven analysis and best practices in urban planning and design from AKAH, MIT and KVA MATx, to develop a model for participatory relocation planning.

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Social housing and cultural/commercial facilities for riverside communities living in precarious conditions in the city of Manaus, Amazonas – Brazil

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Social housing and cultural/commercial facilities for riverside communities living in precarious conditions in the city of Manaus, Amazonas – Brazil

Main objectives of the project

The project has the objective of providing housing for the impoverished riverside communities of Manaus (Brazil), living in precarious and risky situations.

Date

Stakeholders

  • Architect: Danielle Khoury Gregorio

Location

Continent: South America
Country/Region: Brazil

Description

The research is a criticism of the current production of social housing in Brazil, which creates generic models that ignore the social and cultural particularities of the Amazon region. Emphasizing the importance of rescuing the qualities of vernacular riverside architecture, the project incorporates features in its design familiar to residents of stilt and floating houses. Therefore, it allows the residents to identify with the house while valuing the Amazonian way of life and local knowledge.
Architecture takes shape according to the culture and not the other way around. The way this is done is by elevating the complex from the ground, as a reference to the popular stilt house. A floating floor, that varies in accordance with flood and ebb seasons, is also created, which is a common technique found in floating houses of the region, that allows for a continuous dialog with the local landscape. The housing complex not only offers quality housing but also spaces that foster culture and leisure activities, features essential for human development.

As a result, a sense of community is created and empowered. The access to those activities is intended for not only the residents of the complex, but also the surrounding communities. In that way, the project generates a micro local economy and cultural center for the region. Emphasis was placed on programs associated with job creation, in an educational and cooperative manner, using the local know-how to generate income. In order to reinsert the traditional practice of building fishing boats, a space in the building is reserved for a boat building school. A fruit shop and a fish market are located on the ground floor, incentivizing commerce of locally produced products.Also, a bakery school provides the community the opportunity of learning and working. An Environmental Education Center is created, providing learning spaces that enable educational actions aimed at raising public awareness about environmental issues. The project also holds a canoeing club, which incentivizes physical activities and reestablishes the relationship between men and water. Furthermore, there will be a recycling cooperative, generating employment and income while decreasing the amount of residues discarded in the environment. In addition, the building has ample external spaces, encouraging contact with nature and promoting community life. Aiming environmental sustainability, the project makes the best of available natural resources: the rain water is harvested and utilized in toilets. Sewage water is treated so it does not further pollute rivers and can eventually be reutilized. The solar energy is an alternative renewable energy used to provide electricity to the complex. Thermal comfort is done naturally by the dissipation of heat through cross ventilation. Also, the roof protects the interior spaces from direct rays of sunlight. The main structure of the building is made of reforested wood, which, during growth, absorbs carbon dioxide and generates less residues during construction phase. Furthermore, the building does not touch the ground, causing a smaller impact on the existing land and vegetation.

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‘Swedish Tenants’ Union – advocacy in negotiating tenant and landlord agreements

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‘Swedish Tenants’ Union – advocacy in negotiating tenant and landlord agreements

Ownership and tenure

Main objectives of the project

All tenants of rented housing in Sweden, including for-profit and non-profit provision, have the right to be involved in negotiating rents and tenancy conditions. This builds on a distinctive history of rented housing regulation which treats all forms of rented housing the same.

Date

Stakeholders

  • Promotor: Hyresgästföreningen – Swedish Tenants’ Union

Location

Continent: Europe
Country/Region: Sweden

Description

This is reinforced by tenant mobilization and active campaigns for rights. Representative organizations of tenants and landlords negotiate tenancy agreements. If landlords refuse to negotiate with tenants, a statutory Rent Tribunal has the power to impose an arrangement regarding rent levels and tenancy conditions.[1]

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