Maybe one of the biggest city issues of the twenty-first century is having access to an affordable place to reside, and it affects low- and high-income countries alike. In light of the ways that housing can become accessible – not just affordable in price, but structurally, economically, and architecturally accessible in the long term – it becomes imperative as cities grow and the cost of housing outpaces wages.
The ability of a family to purchase a suitable house without spending more than 30% of their income is the affordability of housing (UN-Habitat, 2020). To make this happen, cities need to have a multi-strand policy:
Figure 1 : Multi – Strand Policy for Affordable Housing (UN-Habitat, 2020).
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Land Use Reforms: Land cost is one of the key drivers that make houses expensive. Permitting land to be developed on government land or transferring land to public trusts for preventing speculative pricing are two means by which governments can minimize housing costs (OECD, 2020).
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Co-Housing and Non-Profit Housing: Providing funding for co-housing projects or limited-profit co-housing cooperatives ensures that more money is invested in quality housing rather than pulled back for private profit (Scanlon et al., 2015).
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Subsidies and Cost-Based Rents: Changing from market-rate rents to cost-based regimes and providing targeted subsidies, the poor and middle-class citizens can now afford quality housing without taking on excessive financial burdens (Tsenkova, 2021).
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Inclusionary zoning: Socioeconomic diversity and urban integration can be guaranteed by the policy requiring a certain percentage of affordable apartments in private development (Calavita & Mallach, 2010).
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Public-Private Partnerships: Incentive-based methods, such as density bonuses or tax incentives, can be employed in order to involve private developers and contribute to the provision of affordable units without compromising profit margins.
