This working paper on urban housing is the latest installment of WRI’s flagship World Resources Report (WRR), “Towards a More Equal City.” The report examines if more equitable access to core urban services improves the economy and the environment.

This paper is based on primary and secondary data analysis, a review of existing research, and extensive expert and stakeholder engagement. It explores the case for ensuring the availability of adequate, secure, and affordable housing in well-serviced locations in the global South, as well as barriers to its provision. We focus on actionable approaches that have shown success in multiple locations in the global South, though we acknowledge that other approaches exist and should also be explored. We also examine the key enabling factors—governance, finance, and planning—that are needed to transform the current housing shortage, applying them to each issue. Our goal is to inform urban change agents—government policymakers at all levels of government, civil society organizations and citizens, and the private sector—about housing challenges and ways to address them. Addressing the housing crisis is difficult and highly political, and it will require creative partnerships and coalitions of urban change agents and communities. Yet such an undertaking is essential to achieving a more equal city.

Download the report here.