Resilient and Inclusive Housing Project

Start & End Date: 2021-2026

Country/Countries: Colombia

Multilateral Institution(s) Involved: World Bank

Resilient, safe, and affordable housing has been a long-standing priority in Colombia, as it is critical for improving living standards, reducing poverty, and increasing equity, while also mitigating disaster risks and promoting climate resilience. An estimated 5.1 million households suffer from either a quantitative (approximately 1.53 million households lack access to a housing unit) or qualitative (approximately 3.57 million households live in substandard housing units) housing deficit. Inadequate and substandard housing is directly correlated with poverty, inequality, inadequate access to public services as well as poor education and public health outcomes.

The proposed Project supports a shift in housing policy and investment along four key tracks: (a) Improved targeting to poorer and vulnerable households; more specifically, the proposed Project supports the new Casa Digna Vida Digna (CDVD) home improvement program whose beneficiaries are disproportionately poor and employed in the informal sector. (b) A focus on incremental home improvement, as low-income beneficiary households predominantly need to improve the quality of their existing housing stock. (c) Increased efficiency in the deployment of housing subsidies; more specifically, the average per household subsidy value for the CDVD Program is US$4,158—67 percent of the value of all ‘up market’ subsidies in place prior to 2018. (d) The introduction of a new and innovative rental subsidy program targeting the highly vulnerable group of migrants from Venezuela. This rental subsidy instrument can serve as a potential model for other countries facing cross-border migration challenges in the region and globally.